Wolf In Fox's Clothing
by MrWriterWriter
Summary: During an attack by villagers, 5yr-old Naruto unknowingly wakes up his inner beast. Be careful, Konoha; mess with a wolf and you'll get the fangs. Semi-badassNaruto. NarutoHarem.
1. Prolouge

**Would say I own Naruto, but I can't, so I won't.**

Speech

_Thought_

**Kyuubi**

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Prologue: The Meeting of The 'Monsters'**

The man sneered at the bloody whimpering mass under his foot, the people around him cheering with every stomp he gave it, "This is for my little brother, demon!" He yelled, giving it a hard kick. The force was enough to send the form sliding up under a light, where it was revealed to be a small blonde-haired boy.

His name: Naruto Uzumaki. The reason for the beating: he made the mistake of going outside on October 10th, five years to the day of Kyuubi's attack on Konoha. Unfortunately, this was also his birthday. Several villagers caught him before he could find a hiding place and now only one thought when through his young mind:

_"Why?"_

"Kill it!"

"That thing shouldn't have been allowed to live in the first place!"

"Die, you filthy monster!"

Every shout was punctuate with another kick or stomp by others joining the original attacker,

_"Why do they hate me? What did I do?"_

He choked on a scream as a sharp blade was driven into him.

"It's time to send you back to hell where you belong!"

_"Why??" _Was all he could think before his world faded into darkness.

**"I see you have finally arrived, young one." **A voiced boomed in his ears, making him jump to his feet.

"W-who's there!?" Naruto cried, thinking someone else had arrived to beat on him. He paled when he saw he wasn't in the village anymore. Instead it was some kind of massive cavern with strange glowing pipes along the walls and ceiling.. As he looked around, he realized he wasn't hurting anymore. He saw his bruises and cuts, even the bloodstains on his clothes were gone, "Where am I..?"

The voice chuckled, **"Look behind you, kit." **

He obeyed, only to find himself staring at a gate filling the entire cavern. Two large red eyes greeted him from behind the bars.

A set of equally large fangs grinned at him, **"So I meet my jailer at last."**

"J-Jailer..?" The boy backed up a little

**"You don't know about me,do you?" **The eyes and teeth lowered down to Naruto until he could see they were attached to the head of a giant red fox, "**They call me...Kyuubi."**

Naruto begin backing up even more, "K-Kyuubi..?? But..but they..they said you were dead.."

**"Reports of my demise were rather...exaggerated." **The fox responded, **"I'm as alive as you are, more or less."**

Seeing the obvious confusion on the boy's face, he continued, "**Unfortunately, me being in here is the reason those sorry excuses for mammals out there hold you in contempt. The Fourth Hokage couldn't destroy me outright, so he sealed me inside a just-born baby. You were that baby."**

"So..I..I am a monster.." Naruto's voice began to crack but it was cut off by Kyuubi.

**"You? 'Monster? Don't make me laugh, kit! Did you volunteer to be the one I was sealed into!? Did you even know you had a tailed beast locked away in you? No!" ** He may have been the Nine-Tailed Fox, but even he found abusing a child disgusting, **"The only 'monsters' are the ones ganging up on a five-year-old boy at this moment!"**

Naruto looked up at him, "I-I never did anything to make them hate me..?" He asked, tears starting to run down his face.

**"No, kit. The only crime you're committing, as far as their concerned, is still being alive."**

The tears began to shift from sorrow..to anger. Anger at being hated for something he never asked for; anger at being the scapegoat.

_"I never did anything to them...I never did anything.."_

Back in the real word, the group were getting ready to deliver the final blow. A woman crouched down with a kunai at his neck, "Die!"

Suddenly, Naruto's eyes shot open, looking her dead on.

"I NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU!" He screamed, bringing a hand across her face as hard as he could.

The woman fell back, screaming in pain. Not from the 'slap', but from the slash marks across her face. This caused the rest of the group to step in shock. Especially when they saw claws sticking out from the boy's fingertips. They were small, but the wounds they had inflicted showed they were razor-sharp.

"I never did anything to any of you..!" He growled, slowly getting to his feet

Back in the seal, Kyuubi was getting a shock as well. The blue glow of the piles was being replaced by a gleaming silver and in the darkness he could hear the faint howl of a wolf. After a moment, the look of surprise on his face shifted to realization and he fell to the ground, roaring in laughter, **"Kami, who would've thought!"** He said between fits, **"I don't know who to pity more, the bakas in this village or the kit when he gets older!"**

Naruto's attackers paled at what they were seeing, the 'kyuubi brat' was glaring at them, tears still running.

"You hate me..you beat me..you hurt me..for something I NEVER DID!" He roared as his small body started undergoing a transformation; his hair lengthened and became thicker and shaggier-looking, draping down to his shoulders. His eyes now had silver mixed in with the sapphire blue. His teeth began extending into fangs that shined when he snarled at them. Finally, a pair of jet-black ears emerged from the top of his head and a black lupine tail sprouted from the bottom of his spine, matching the coat of fur now covering him, the only difference being three streaks of white on each side of his face, mimicking his whisker marks.

"You ARE a monster!" The woman he struck screeched, trying to reach for the kunai she dropped.

"Monster...?" Naruto growled, his voice slightly huskier than before, "The only monsters I see..are you!" With that he lunged into the group like a cornered animal.

Several of them yelled as he began slashing and clawing at any of them he could get to. His claws weren't able to deliver a fatal strike, but they were doing enough.

The woman, whether out of anger that the 'kyuubi brat' had the nerve to strike back or fear that he'd come to finish her, grabbed the kunai and dove at him, intent on making it fatal. Unfortunately for her, the action was never completed before she was literally snatched out of the air by her throat.

"Naruto!" Came a voice that the boy recognized; the voice of Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. The old man glared at the woman in his grip as a group of ANBU that were loyal to him began rounding up the ones responsible.

"Sir, there's no fatalities, but all of them were slashed up pretty good." One wearing an eagle mask reported.

"I want all of them sent to Ibiki, immediately!" The old man growled.

"Grampa Saru..?" Came a voice from amongst the scattered civilians and shinobi. Sarutobi sighed in relief when he heard the boys voice, but he paled slightly when he turned to check on him.

Standing where the voice came from, wearing Naruto's clothes...

was a black-furred ookami, standing upright. Several of the AN BU seemed to be started as well.

"A..A werewolf.." One of them whispered.

* * *

Well, this is the start of my new story. Just so you know, Kyushu won't exactly be 'Mr-Nice-Guy." in this one. He'll be yelling for Naruto to do some damage sometimes, or be a pervert Jiraiya would be proud of; but he'll still have a code of honor in a way.

Plus, Narrator will be having problems with his new ability. But you'll find out in the next chapter.

Next time: I'm a WHAT!?


	2. I'm a WHAT?

**A/N: This story will contain some bashing. You have been warned!**

**A/N #2: There'll be aspects of another anime in this story. I'll leave it up to you to guess.**

**Challenger: Hana maybe; Tsume..I'm not too sure on that.**

**AztekLord: Dunno, just going by the translation dictionary I found.**

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 2: I'm A WHAT!?**

Sarutobi paced frantically around his office. It had barely been a day since the incident and the Council was going wild. The side that hated Naruto were screaming that his transformation was a sign that he WAS the Kyuubi, regardless of if it was a wolf or fox. That damn warhawk, Danzo, was even more insistent that he be drafted into ROOT and be made a weapon. Fortunately, the ones that actually cared about the boy were more concerned with how he was doing after the attack and his subsequent retaliation.

The old man took a long draw on his pipe as his son, Asuma came in, "How is he doing?" He recalled the boy passing out after things settled down, most likely from exhaustion and blood loss from his injuries..

"He's still sound asleep, dad. Dog and Owl are keeping guard" Asuma replied, "What in Kami's name happened to him? He looks just like a...a.."

"A wolf." Sarutobi said, taking another draw, "To be more specific, a werewolf."

Asuma nearly dropped the cigarette he had, "A what!? Dad, you can't be serious! Those don't exist."

"In this case, they do, Asuma. Technically, he takes it after his mother, Kushina.."

"Kushina? Wait..wasn't she..Mina to's..girlfriend...?" Asuma's eyes widened, "No way..no way! Naruto's...?"

Sarutobi nodded, "The son of the Fourth Homage, Mina to Kamikaze and the werewolf, Kushina Umiak. In a way, I guess you could call it a bloodline at this point since Naruto inherited it."

Asuma's head was spinning from this, "Wait..If Kushina-chan was a werewolf, how come we never saw her like that..?"

"Between the idea of being attacked because of it or that the Council would've tried to make her act as a breeder, a bunch of werewolves for Danzo to play with." His eyes glinted with malice at the name,"I can't blame her for not letting anyone know. To be honest, Minato was the only person in Konoha to ever see her fully transformed."

"But, if that's the case, then shouldn't he had turned back by now/"

Sarutobi whipped his head around towards his son, "What do you mean 'by now'??"

"Just that. He still had everything; the fur, claws, even the tail.."

Before either of them could continue, a loud scream echoed from outside.

"Shit! That sounded like it came from the room Naruto's in!" Asuma said as the two Sarutobis made a dash to the source of the scream. When they arrived, they saw the two ANBU had already kicked in the door. Owl was kneeling at the bed.

"What the hell happened!?" Asuma demanded.

"Grampa Saru! There..there's something in the mirror!" Came Naruto's voice from under the bed, they could all hear him literally whimper.

"Naruto woke up, and apparently he was frightened by his reflection." Replied Owl.

Sighing in a mix of relief and slight amusement, Sarutobi went over and knelt down to see the blonde curled up underneath the box-spring, "It's ok, Naruto. You can come out. No one's going to hurt you." It took the Hokage a few minutes of coaxing but he soon stood back up holding a slightly nervous Naruto. He walked over to the mirror, "Is this what you were talking about?"

Naruto flinched when he saw the black-furred thing again, but this time it was in the old man's arms just like he was. He slowly waved a hand, the thing waved as well. It was then he finally saw the fur. His eyes winded when he saw, "It..it's me..?"

"Yes, Naruto. That's your reflection."

"Wha..what happened..??" He was starting to get scared.

"Naruto, it's ok. It's ok. Kami, how do I explain this? Naruto..you're a werewolf.."

"A wha-wolf..?"

"Werewolf..it's basically a person who can transform into a wolf-like creature. In your case, it's something you inherited from your mother."

"My..my mom..? How..?"

Sarutobi sat down on the bed with him, "I had prayed that I could've held off telling you this until you were old enough, Naruto. Your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki. She came from what was once known as Whirlpool Country. We don't know if it was something akin to a bloodline or just her." He took a deep breath, "And your father.."

"Hokage-sama! Are..are you sure about this?" 'Dog' asked tentatively.

"He needs to knew so he can understand what happened." Sarutobi replied, "Naruto, your father was Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage

Naruto's breath began to get shallow, "My. my.dad..he put K-Kyuubi in me..?.

Asuma choked on his cigarette and Owl nearly knocked his mask off as he stood up, "You..you know!? H-How??"

"Kyuubi told me...he..he also said I had nothing to do with what happened that day..He didn't seem happy then everyone blamed me for it.."

_"The Kyuubi!? This makes things even more unusual."_ Sarutobi thought, honestly surprised that the fox actually seemed...honerable..in a way, "Naruto." he said, trying to calm the upset boy, "Naruto, I know it feels like your father did it to you deliberately, but you must understand, sealing Kyuubi into you was his last resort in stopping him. It was the last thing he ever wanted to do."

"But.. w-why me..?" He choked back a sob.

"Believe me, Naruto. Minato would have rather sealed Kyuubi in himself if he could, but his body wouldn't have been able to hold the fox for long. Only a newborn baby would have been able to adapt to it in time. Plus..do you think it would've been right for him to make someone else use their child?"

After a minute Naruto shook his head, "I..I guess not.." He soon found himself being hugged by the old man, "Um..Grampa Saru..?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"How..how do I take off the fur?"

Kyuubi sweatdropped,**"Uh-oh. Dammit, I KNEW there was something I forgot to tell the kit about!"**

Sarutobi scratched his chin, "Um..I'm afraid I don't know how, Naruto. Kushina never let anyone but Minato see her in her transformed state."

"But...I don't know how I changed!" He whimpered.

The Hokage began racking his braid for an idea, "Ok, it's not much but at least for now. We'll just say you've woken a bloodline. In a way it's not too far off since you inherited it. If you start feeling uncomfortable about it in public, we can try to fix up a disguise for you."

"O-Ok.." Naruto said, stifling a yawn.

Asuma chuckled, "Gotta agree with him there. It's three in the morning."

"All right Naruto. Try and get some sleep. We'll work something out in the morning, ok?"

"Ok..night Granpa Saru, Asuma." Naruto yawned again as Sarutobi tucked him in.

"As if the poor kid didn't have enough crap to put up with in life.." Asuma muttered as he and his father left the two ANBU to resume guard duty over the boy.

Naruto was soon sound asleep and back in front of Kyuubi's cage.

**"There you are."**The fox said, ** "There's something I forgot to warn you about earlier, concerning your new 'talent."**

"What? Do you know how I can turn back?" The blonde asked hopefully.

**"I'm afraid not. Actually, I didn't even know you WERE a werewolf until I saw that."**He extended a claw through the bars and pointed behind Naruto.

There stood a huge statue of a wolf on a pedestal, it's head held high and taking an almost noble stance. "What's THAT!?" Naruto cried out.

**"That represents your inner-wolf. The lycanthrope side of you."**

"Lika-what??"

**"Lycanthrope, a fancy name for werewolf. It appeared when you began transforming. Because of this, I have some good news and some bad news."**

"W-What's the good news..?"

**"Well, because you are a werewolf, things like your strength, agility, and speed will be increased, you'll have enhanced senses. plus you'll heal faster. Of course, with me sealed in you, your natural healing and stamina are already amplified, plus the larger than normal chakra stores you're already acquiring."**

"Yatta..!" Naruto yipped, already starting to like what he's hearing.

**"The bad news..since you seem to have transformed by way of instinct instead of willingly, I have absolutely no idea how you can change back."**

Naruto had only one thing to say in reaction:

"NAAAAAANNNNIIIIIIIII!?"

* * *

Like this chapter shows, Naruto's stuck in 'furry' mode. The question is; should he use a disguise or not? I'll let you decide. If he does use a disguise it'll last until the Wave Arc. First choice to reach 10 votes will be used and announced in the next chapter


	3. Councils and Creepy Green Spandex

A/N: I was planning to announce the final result on if Naruto should have a disguise on until Wave, but neither choice has reached 10 votes so i'm extending the vote until the next chapter. So far no disguise is leading.

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 3: Councils and Creepy Green Spandex.**

* * *

Asuma darted from tree to tree, making sure he stayed as silent as possible. He knew his quarry was nearby; and probably new he was close as well. Suddenly a rustle of leaves caught his attention and he made a beeline toward the sound. Within seconds, he was diving headlong into a bush, a yelp of surprise accompanying the action.

"Ha, gotcha! TAG, you're it, Naruto!" He smirked at the wolf-boy.

Naruto pouted under the hooded jacket he was wearing, "No fair! How'd you find me!?"

The Hokage's son just laughed, "I'm a ninja, remember?"

"Rrrr..just wait 'till I'm old enough to go to the academy! I'll show you."

Asuma couldn't help but chuckle. It had been over a month since Naruto's transformation; and he had gotten used to it rather well considering the boy now looked like a giant puppy. Given the abilities he said Kyuubi told him he would have, Asuma had a feeling he'd grow up to be someone not to be trifled with.

"Hey, Asuma?" Naruto tugged his vest, "Can we get something to eat? I wanna get something on my stomach before that scary girl finds me again." He gave a shiver at that.

"Heh, ok, Naruto. But why do you still call he that? Have you thought maybe she just likes you?"

"Asuma, Hana Inuzuka is scary! She tackles me everytime she sees me! All because I had to go to that meeting with Grampa Saru.."

**FLASHBACK**

* * *

Naruto looked uneasy as he followed Sarutobi to the Council Room. The Hokage had warned him that although some of the council had nothing against him, a fair number weren't so agreeable.

"Ok, Naruto. Just stick by me and stay calm. This'll only take a few minutes."

The boy nodded and they went in. Inside where it had been brimming with chatter went deathly silent when they saw him. That is until a loud squeal of 'KAWAII!!" jolted all of them and Tsume Inuzuka suddenly appeared beside Sarutobi hugging and nuzzling a startled Naruto.

"You didn't say he'd be so adorable, Sarutobi!" Tsume giggled as she held him.

Every guy there sweatdropped, even the stoic Shibi Aburame, "Um, Tsume-San. It may be best if you set him down so we can resume." He said. She balked for a moment until a look from Sarutobi made her relent.

"All right. Now, I've called this meet in light of certain..events..that happened last week." Sarutobi glanced at the council members who were giving Naruto death glares, "In light of this..."

"It should be put down or given to Danzo-San so we can get SOME use out of it!" A council member spat, making Naruto quickly hide behind the old man.

Sarutobi gave a look to the two ANBU stationed at the door, "Take him to Ibiki."

"Sarutobi, you can't be serious!" Koharu sputtered as the man was dragged off screaming.

"I'm dead serious, Koharu. I will NOT tolerate anyone like that in my council room!" He took a second to calm down before continuing, "The main reason I brought Naruto here is to let you know what happened.."

**FLASHBACK END**

* * *

He couldn't really understand much of what they were talking about, except the ones that didn't like him kept giving him really mean looks. The ones that didn't just looked his way ever now and then. Tsume, however, felt the urge to introduce him to her 10-year old daughter, Hana, who greeted him in exactly the same manner as her mother. Unfortunately it soon became her way of saying 'hi' to him whenever she spotted the young werewolf. Always calling him, 'Puppy-Kun' didn't help in his mind.

Naruto had wanted to go for ramen, but Asuma talked him into dango. Thankfully the hood was enough to cover his face so the employees wouldn't recognize him.

"Naruto, "Asuma piped up between mouthfulls, "You know you'll be old enough to go to the academy within a year, right?"

"Yeah..I just hope they'll let me in even though...you know..." Now that he knew why everyone hated him, he was scared they'd use it as a reason to bar him from getting in.

"I doubt it, Naruto. I told you Dad had passed that saw banning anyone from talking about it to at least give you a chance around kids your age.. Besides, if they try, they'll just get in trouble for deliberately trying to hinder someone."

"I guess.." Naruto rolled his last dumpling around on the plate.

Asuma frowned, he could see a lot of potential in the kid. Hell, his dad was known as 'The Yellow Flash'. But what he had learned had already planted a seed of doubt. Then it hit him and a sly grin appeared on his face. Naruto might think it was crazy at first, but it couldn't hurt to give it a shot, "Hey Naruto, how'd you feel about getting a bit of a head start on academy training?"

The young werewolf nearly choked on his dango, "Are..you serious!?"

"Sure, I'm still on the duty roster so I can't really do much, but I do know another jounin. He's a little odd, but a decent guy. He would care less what you look like as long as you''re willing to make the effort. I think he's already helping one boy out so I don't think he'd mind another."

"Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah!!" He was nearly bouncing in his seat at the idea untill Asuma got him to calm down.

"Heh ok, ok. I'll take you to meet him tomorrow. His name's Might Guy."

* * *

"YES, MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT! IF WE CANNOT DO 500 CRUNCHES, WE SHALL RUN 25 TIMES AROUND KONOHA!"

"Hai, Guy-Sensei!"

Naruto winced, holding his ears at the noise. Asuma said he was odd, but...what in Kami's name was the man wearing!?

**"That's just wrong.." **Kyuubi shuddered at what he had on.

"Hey, Guy!" Asuma called out, nudging Naruto forward.

The green-clad man stopped mid crunch and hopped to his feet, "Asuma! What brings you here? And who is this?"

"This is Naruto Uzumaki." He nudged Naruto over, "Don't worry. He's ok." As he nudged, the hood of his jacket fell, giving both Guy and the boy training with him a full view of his furry face.

Guy broke into laughter. Naruto cringed, thinking he was going to act like the council, or make fun, but it never came. Instead Guy clapped a hand on his head.

"So this is the 'puppy' I heard young Hana-Inuzuka talking about with her mother! Why he positively REEKS of youthfulness!"

While Naruto attempted to process what the man just said, the other boy came over, giving him a curious look. He looked like he was a year older than him.

"Oh, yes! This is Rock Lee. Unfortunately, he has a chakra condition so he is unable to perform any gen- or ninjutsu. But we shall not let that hinder him!"

"Um..why are you furry?" Lee asked.

Naruto looked up at Asuma, "Should..should I tell them...?"

"That's up to you, kiddo. If you want it kept secret, that's your choice."

Naruto gave it a moment before deciding honesty was better, "I..I'm a werewolf."

"What's a 'werewolf'"

"I can turn into one, kinda. Except..I don't know how to turn back."

"Not to worry, Naruto-Kun!" Guy boomed, "You have my word as Konoha's Green Beast, your secret shall remain safe!"

"Good. Now. I think i'll you to get acquainted with them." With that, Asuma left Naruto with the bushy-eyebrowed duo.

* * *

Short, I know. This was kinda a filler chapter to give a transition to Naruto's training.

So far, I've decide I might have Hana in the harem. Still deciding on the rest.


	4. The Wolf Cuts Loose

**No Own, Got It!**

Speech

_Thought_

_**Kyuubi**_

**Well, it was close; but it looks like No Disguise won. **

**But not to worry. he'll still suffer the fate of 'kawaii'**

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 3: The Wolf Cuts Loose**

CRACK! SMASH! CRUNCH!"

The sounds of blows landing echoed in the early morning outside Konoha along with wood being broken. In a small clearing near the hokage monument, 6yr-old Naruto Uzumaki and 7yr-old Rock Lee stood in the middle of a ring of makeshift training dummies, some had been beaten on repeatedly.

Sweating and trying to catch their breath, the two boys stood back to admire their handiwork. Boards lay cracked and splintered around them. Blood could be seen staining the points of impact as well as on their fists, showing the extent of their effort.

Lee grinned, "Yosh! We are improving, my friend!" He said, giving Guy's 'nice-guy' pose, complete with tooth sparkle.

"Heh. Yeah,. we're getting there." Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at his friend. Lee just about idolized Konoha's taijutsu master, even to the point of dressing like the man. Of course, the man was ecstatic about having someone emulating him. The two had tried to get Naruto to try on one of the suits, but to their disappointment, and Naruto's relief, spandex turned out to be unbearably itchy for the little werewolf. That and Kyuubi's threat of giving him embarrassing nightmares for the rest of his life if he did wear it got him into a makeshift karati gi.

"I see my youthful students are up early!" Guy said as he appeared in a swirl of leaves, making Lee stand at attention. Naruto, however simply gave a nod of greeting. It had been close to a year since Naruto started training with the other boy and the two had become almost like brothers. At first Lee couldn't help but be curious about Naruto's 'condition', but he soon got over it and thought the abilities he had because of it could be fun to have. Thanks to the training and encouragement from Lee and Guy, Naruto was now more relaxed and confident; and thanks to Asuma, he learned to not really really give a damn about what people thought of his appearance. The only except was his constant fear of being tackled by girls who, much to his chagrin, were drawn to his fur, ears, and tail. Hence his reason for staying out of town as much as possible.

Thankfully his wolf side was at home thee.

"Lee, it's almost time for you to be at the academy." Guy stated.

"Oh. Hai, Guy-Sensei!. I will see you later, Naruto!" He called out as he took off.

"Later, Lee!" He replied before turning back and attacking the dummies again. Since Lee couldn't use anything aside from Taijutsu, that was all Guy would teach so as not to show favoritism. He didn't mind, though. He'd be able to learn ninjutsu in class.

"Oi, Naruto. I almost forgot. Hokage-Sama asked me to tell you that your first day starts next week."

Hearing this, Naruto missed his target and fell over in a heap, "Serious!?" He asked, immediately hopping to his feet, tail wagging like mad.

Guy nodded, stifling a chuckle at the sight, "Hai! He has decided you are ready!"

"Yess!" He started to jump in glee when a sound nearby caught his attention. Thanks to his enhanced senses, it was hard, if not almost impossible, to sneak up on him. He took a quick sniff of the air and wimpered, his ears drooping, "Oh no.."

"PUPPY-KUN!" Cried Hana Inuzuka as she came diving over Guy's head and onto Naruto.

"Ha--UNFF!" He was promptly driven into the dirt with the girl on top of him, "Oof...hi, Hana.." He groaned.

"Where've you been?? Me and Kaa-San haven't seen you for months!"

He grunted as he tried to get un-pinned by the girl, "I've been training. Nf..could you get off me?"

"Aw, " She buried her face in his chest fur, making him inadvertently blush through, "But you're so cuddly!"

Guy finally gave in and doubled over in laughter at the boy's expression.

* * *

The next few days went by relatively quiet, with the exception of Ayame Ichiraku constantly wanting to pet him or scratch his ears whenever he went for ramen. He was heading back to the training area after dinner at the Ichiraku stand when a loud commotion caught his attention. It seemed kind of late for a party as far as he knew

_"Hey, Kyuubi. We're near the Hyuugas, aren't we?"_

**"Aye, Kit. It sounds like something really got the lot of them going. I say we check it out, just for the hell of it."**

He made his way to the Hyuuga compound in time to see a man in full shinobi gear coming over the walls with a bag over his shoulder. It was shuffling a bit and he could hear what sounded like muffled crying and whimpers coming from inside.

"Heh, with our own clan carrying your eyes, little girl, Kumo will be unstoppable!" The man chuckled sinisterly.

"What's he talking about??"

**"Kit! He's kidnapping one of the Hyuuga children! And from the sound of things, they plan to make their own Hyuugas, whether she wants to or not."**

_"Say what..??"_

**"Don't you remember when you saw puppies at the Inuzukas and Tsume told you where they were from?? They want to use her for that same purpose!"**

As soon as Kyuubi said that, Naruto finally realized what he was seeing; the girl was going to be used for babies against her will. In a flash, searing anger boiled up from inside him. The idea of someone doing something so detestable, so vile, and that they were doing it WILLINGLY caused him to bare his fangs in a primal snarl and let out a howl.

Back in the seal, Kyuubi had the pleasure of seeing the statue suddenly come alight with what looked like chakra, **"LET THIS TRASH TASTE MY FURY!"** It suddenly roared, making Kyuubi jump back a bit.

**"What in the 9 hells just happened?!" **He asked, not expecting this at all.

The kidnapper, a man Kumo had sent to be an emissary, felt like busting out laughing. The job had been so easy it was almost pathetic, and those Hyuugas still hadn't found him. As soon as he was out of the village, the Byakugan would only make Lightening more powerful. At least, that's what he had been thinking until a bloodchilling howl stopped him in his tracks. Even his captive went silent.

"Wh-what was that..?" He asked himself, his answer came in the form of a roar from above. He looked in time to see...something..sillouetted against the full moon and coming straight down on him. There was a flash of claws, his world went black and indescribable pain replaced it.

The thing had slashed his eyes..

"AHHHHH!!" The man screamed, dropping the bag as he clutched his face. Naruto, at the moment acting more on something besides himself, caught it and bit the rope holding it closed.

_"Whoever's in here smells really nice." _He thought as he pulled the bag down, _"Kinda like a cinnamon stick"_ Inside was a girl no older than he was, bound and gagged. She had dark blue, almost black hair and pale lavender, pupiless eyes. For a moment he thought she was blind unto she looked straight at him, fear still on her face.

He quickly pulled the gag off, "Are you ok?" He asked. She gave a shakey nod as he used his claws to cut her bindings. "Name's Naruto."

"H-Hinata.." She replied in almost a whisper. She was still scared

"Hi, Hinata. Since you're ok. I'm gonna finish this." He dashed towards the man from Kumo and leaped, planting both feet in his face. The blow had enough momentum to knock him off his feet. The second Naruto landed he jumped again and landed feet-first on the kidnapper. He meant to land on his stomach, but his aim was a tad low.

The fact that his gi had weights sewn into it didn't make it any better. The unfortunate bastard's scream of agony echoed all over the Hidden Leaf Village. A hard kick to the face stopped it, as well as dislocating his jaw

With the man promptly blind and curled up in the fetal position sobbing, he went back to Hinata, "It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you." He said, kneeling in front of her. She started to reply when shouts of, "Hinata!" followed by running reached them.

"Your parents I take?" He asked. She nodded and he looked around. He'd only seen Hiashi Hyuuga at the council meeting and didn't know how the family would react to him so making himself scared felt like the best option.

"I better go, Hinata. Maybe we'll meet again." He turned to go when his ears picked up the sound of her standing.

"Th-thank you." She said.

"Heh. No problem." He gave her a foxy grin that, even though it had sharp fangs, made her blush. With that, he high-tailed it into the trees as Hiashi and his wife, Hinamori, came running up with several others.

"Hinata!" Hinamori scooped up her daughter, holding her tight, "Thank Kami you're all right!"

"Hiashi-Sama! Look!" One of the other Hyuugas held a lantern over the curled up emissary from Kumo, "Someone worked him over rather nicely."

"Search the area! Whoever stopped him couldn't have gotten far. I want to know saved my daughter! Move!"

As the others spread out, Hiashi went over to his wife, "Hinata, what happened?"

"N-Naruto..saved me.." She replied, the blush still evident on her face. Hiashi's eyebrows shot up.

"Naruto..?? There's only one person in Konoha with that name..but it's impossible..he's barely Hinata's age!"

"Dear, what are you talking about? Who's Naruto?" Hinamori piped up, still cradling Hinata.

"Hina..If she means who I think she does, our daughter was rescued by Naruto Uzumaki; Konoha's werewolf."

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto was running full clip back to the training site. For the first time in his life, he was experiencing a rush.

_"Kyuubi, what happened!? All of a sudden, I felt like a..a warrior! My mind and body just reacted on their own!"_

**"I don't know, Kit. When you got angry after figuring out what was happening, the wolf statue in here suddenly started glowing. I Think I may have an idea but I'll need to think on it. Right now, though, you need to get some sleep. You start the road towards becoming a shinobi in the next couple of days.**

_"Yeah..I could use a little shuteye.." _He yawned, curling up beside a tree. Soon all that could be heard outside of the crickets was Naruto softly snoring.

Back at the Hyuuga compound, things were soon settling down. The Kumo emessary had been taking away and everyone began to relax a bit. Hinamori was still holding Hinata tightly.

"Naruto Uzumaki..thank you.." She said as Hinata drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Iruka Umino rapped his chalk against the blackboard, "All right class, settle down."

As he started going over the lesson, the door opened at a jounin entered, "Sorry to disturb you, Iruka-san, but you have a new student."

"A newcomer? Well, it's not too late in the year for them to catch up."

The jounin stepped aside and all sound vanished, save for Iruka dropping his chalk.

The new student, a 4'1" boy covered in black fur, with long, shaggy blonde hair, dog ears sticking up from the hair, and a furry tail poking out the back of his gi, looked at Iruka and the students, "Yo, name's Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

I''m still deciding on who's in the harem, but I can say Hana, Hinata and Tenten will be in it.

A lot of the girls will be interested in Naruto mainly for his 'furry' factor, but they won't be in the harem.


	5. School Days: Part 1

Speech

_Thought_

**Kyuubi**

**Amberion2001**: He'll be showing a few wolfish characteristics. I may add the wolf stare-down later on.

**CelticReaper: **They'll just be fur-covered with claws.

Note: Hinata's mother will live, so she'll be more confident, although she'll be a little bashful at times towards Naruto.

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 4: School Days: Part 1**

"Yo, Name's Naruto Uzumaki."

Silence overcame the classroom for what felt like an eternity. Iruka was a mix of nervousness at the Kyuubi container being in his class and wondering why the boy was so damn fuzzy. Several students were wondering the exact thing.

His ears twitched a bit at the lack of sound.

That did it. More than half the girls in the room let loose with a cry of "KAAAAWWAAIIIIII!" that rattled the windows and knocked every boy in range off their seats. Naruto, who had been hoping that he could've gone through without this happening, whimpered as he became the victim of a gang-glomp.

Iruka finally snapped out of his shock in time to try and fish the unfortunate boy out of the mass cuddle attack he was experiencing, "Girls! Get off him and get back to your seats! Let him up!"

After several minutes of prying arms off him and getting girls to stop burying their faces in his fur, Iruka helped a now shaky Naruto to his feet.

**"Atta boy, Kit!"** Kyuubi yelled out in approval.

"Why do girls do that..?" He whimpered, seeing his 'attackers' staring at him with hearts in their eyes as Iruka ushered them back to their seats. As he looked, he noticed the other half of the girls in class were giving him looks like he had just called them a filthy name.

He shook it off and gave the rest of the class the once over, letting his nose do some of the work. Thankfully, he had the foresight to train his senses as well. Judging from the appearance of some, he guessed they were kids of the shinobi heads in the council. One of his tacklers, a girl with almost platinum blonde hair, had the distinct aroma of flowers. He guessed she was a Yamanaka since he heard Inochi now worked as a florist. Beside her was a heavy-looking boy chowing down on a bag of potato chips and another one sound asleep at the desk. The big one had to be Akimichi and the sleeper's pineapple-like hairdo screamed Nara. In the back sat a boy with shades on who didn't seem to show much emotion. Naruto guessed he was an Aburame from the way he was acting. The pink-haired girl and boy sitting beside her he didn't know. The black-haired kid seemed like he was in a foul mood over something and just gave Naruto a look like he was sizing him up.

Two people, however, he did recognize. One was a boy who smelled heavily of dog with marks on his cheeks just like Tsume and Hana: Kiba Inuzuka. Naruto groaned inwardly; Kiba once heard Hana use her nickname for the young werewolf and broke into laughter over it before getting bopped.

Another was a pale girl with lavender eyes and dark blue hair. This same one smelled of cinnamon. Naruto smiled a bit, not expecting to see her again so soon, "Hey, Hinata!" He called out, his tail wagging a bit and causing another wave of squealing to rip through the room.

Several girls whipped their heads in her direction, looking almost jealous at her being called by name. She simply stared at him wide-eyed, a heavy blush slowly creeping up on her face. She never really got to see who her rescuer looked like that night so she had no idea. But she remembered his voice and now she had been torn between her Hyuuga dignity and tackling the furry boy herself.

"H-Hello, Naru..Naruto." She said, fighting the urge to squeal at how cute she thought his ears and tail were.

"Um..Yes." Iruka coughed after things calmed down enough for him to resume class, "Naruto, please take a seat."

The boy nodded and made his way towards the desks when Iruka stopped him, "Naruto why are you barefoot and..are your clothes..clinking?"

"Huh? Oh, I don't wear footwear 'cause the claws on my feet get caught on the inside. Nearly tore one off last time I tried wearing shoes. As for my clothes, they have weights sewn into them. It was Guy-Sensei's idea. "

"Wait..you..you've been training with Might Guy?" Iruka's eyebrows elevated, along with several boys. However they were more interested in how he could carry that much without being winded, not really knowing who Guy was. The black-haired boy glared at him slightly.

"Kinda. Mostly just getting me ready for when I got here."

"Oh..yes..Very well. Go ahead and take a seat."

He started up the steps to a seat in the back when Kiba piped up, "So you finally got here, 'Puppy-Kun'." Kiba snickered.

"Shut up, Rover." Naruto whispered back before continuing. He made it halfway up when an oddly enjoyable sensation suddenly shot through his tail. Looking behind, he saw a girl with pink hair nuzzling it, her arms wrapped around it as tightly as possible.

"It's so soft.." she cooed.

"Sakura Haruno!" Iruka started, "Put his tail down and get back to your seat!"

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks, Naruto soon got to know some of the students. Fortunately, he managed to pass off his lycanthropy as a bloodline. Chouji Akimichi seemed delighted to find a fellow muncher in Naruto, who's wolf side gave him an impressive appetite. Shikimaru Nara spent most of his time asleep but still managed to keep up with the class. He and Chouji were close friends.

Shino was your typical Aburame; stoic, never talked unless he had something to say. When Naruto found out the clan all had insects living inside him, Shino seemed a tad surprised the fur-clad boy didn't seem creeped out or disgusted.

"Dude, I have fur, wolf ears and a tail." Was Naruto's only reaction to that discovery.

Sasuke Uchiha was a different story. The boy would just sit there, brooding, every now and then looking at Naruto like he had something he coveted. The looks were borderline angry. Asuma had told him about the massacre of the Uchiha clan at the hands of Sasuke's older brother, Itachi. The boy had been traumatized by the event but seemed to be getting back to normal life. Naruto had made an attempt to make friends but only got Sasuke's back instead.

He also learned of the 'Sasuke Fangirls", several girls who thought the sun rose and set on him. It turned out the girl who were always glaring at him were doing so because they felt he was trying to show the boy up with his weighted clothes. It turned out they were the more hardcore ones. Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanka, while two of the top members of the 'fanclub', were still somewhat civil about it, although they would try to pounce his tail whenever it was near.

Hinata, to Naruto's relief, was the exception. She would stare at his fur with a 'kawaii' look on her face, but refrained from tackling him Although she had developed a fondness for scratching his ears; after asking if it was ok, though. Naruto seemed to enjoy it too, much to the chagrin of the girls who wanted to pet him.

Naruto soon found it hard to train at school with fangirls trying to yell at him for 'trying to look better than their Sasuke-Kun' and Sasuke himself who would showing up nearby as if he was going to discover a hidden secret the werewolf had. Kyuubi started to dislike him as well.

**"Ugh, that boy is becoming a pest." ** The fox growled after Naruto once again caught Sasuke trying to watch him train.

_"I know..he's starting to be as annoying as he is rude. Everytime I try and talk to him he just glares then walks off."_

**"I have a feeling he's getting jealous."**

_"Jealous? Of what?"_

**"Given the way he glared after you mentioned your weighted clothes, I'd have to say he's probably hoping to swipe them for himself. Wouldn't put it past him if he keeps spying on you like this."**

_"Uh-uh! I don't think so! He wants them, he'll need the help of all his fangirls to yank them off my back!" _

Kyuubi chuckled. He was defiantly going to enjoy it when the time came to give the kit his own brand of training.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sarutobi was discussing the attempted Hyuuga kidnapping with the council, "Any word from Kumo?"

"Ah, the bastards are claiming the guy was acting on his own." Tsume growled. "They just don't wanna admit because they know this counts as an act of war. Ibiki can't get a whole lot of information out of him either, he's still pretty messed up from what Naruto did to him."

Chouza coughed, "However they said their sending something to try and make up for the 'misunderstanding', as they called it. They said it was one of the Raikage's prized possessions. Their idea of a peace offering, I guess."

Sarutobi snorted, "I see he's as generous as aways." his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Speaking of the kidnapping...Hinamori has been adamant about meeting Naruto to thank him but the boy bolts off to who knows where after school is out." Hiashi said.

"Ah, well, he doesn't really like being on the streets any more than he has to so he can avoid being tackled by girls."

Hiashi scratched his chin. he recalled Hinata telling him about the poor boy getting dogpiled on his first day. But he needed to get the boy to come or his wife would never let him hear the end of it.

* * *

At the borders of Fire and Lightening, two Kumo jounin were making their way across. Both were heavily armed and carrying chains connected to a collar on a small girl between them. Her hands and feet were shackled too.

"Why the hell does Raikage-Sama want us to take this thing to Konoha in the fist place?" One of the said, giving the girl a scathing glare.

"Who knows and who cares. Let's just hurry; the sooner we take it there, the sooner we can go back home."

* * *

Guess who!

Next time: Containers collide and Naruto pisses off the fangirls.


	6. School Days: Part 2

Speech

_Thought_

**Kyuubi**

**GraityTheWizard: **You mean if he has a doujutsu? No, the transformation just added silver color to his eyes.

**Nayeli: **Their ok if done right, like in 'Cry of the Youko' but to me it's more fun to have him get irate.

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 5: School Days Part 2**

Sarutobi was borderline livid. Had he known that the 'possession' the Raikage was sending was a 9yr-old girl, he would've had half a mind to take out the men who brought her solely on the way she was chained and shackled and think of ways to tear the Raikage a new one. Unfortunately, they left her at the city gates and made themselves scarce. It took an ANBU a good half hour to pick all the locks on her.

"What's your name?" He asked, looking at her now sitting across from his desk.

"Yugito Nii.." Came the reply. It didn't take a kage to tell she was thinking he was going to treated in a similar manner there as she was in Kumo.

"It's ok, Yugito. I find the current Raikage to be a bit of greasy punk myself." He grinned when she bit back a giggle at the insult, "See? Konoha isn't like Kumo So, tell me; why did they send you?"

Yugito shrugged, "I don't know..the Raikage usually wouldn't let me outside the kage tower. He'd always say I belonged to him when I was old enough.." Sarutobi bristled at that, "Me and Nibi hate him.." She clamped a hand over her mouth at the slip, her eyes wide in fear.

The Hokage stared, "You and Nibi? As in Nibi no Nekomata?" Seeing her tense up at the question confirmed it, "I see. You're the cat's container aren't you? Think I know now why he chose to send you. The baka assumed we'd be appalled and demand you be sent back. Or do something else so he could try and demand something in compensation"

Yugito was still tensed up, "Wh-what are you going to do.?"

"Oh, I'm thinking a nice 'thank you' letter is order." He replied, "It's time one of his plans came back to bite him."

"You..you aren't sending me back?"

"Not unless you want to go back." The vigorous shaking of her head was his answer.

Meanwhile, in her own seal, Nibi was sensing something that made her quiver.

_"Nibi? Are you ok?" _ Yugito asked, picking up on her tenants reaction.

**"I ..I just sensed**_** his **_**presence."**Nibi purred, **"Kyuubi..he's near.."**

Yugito blushed a tad at how the cat was acting, and the old man noticed.

"Yugito? Is something wrong?'

"Um..uh..Nibi's picking up her old crush..."

"Say what?"

"Well..Nibi has a crush on the Kyuubi no Kitsune and she's detecting him."

It took a few minutes for Sarutobi to let this sink in, "N..Nibi has a..thing for Kyuubi..?

She nodded, making the Hokage slump back into his chair.

"Hoo-boy.."

"H-Hokage-Sama? She's getting kind of antsy..she hasn't seen him in 6 years."

Sarutobi rubbed the bridge of his nose, knowing it would be either tell her or have the Nibi go nuts, "Well, that's because he's been contained as well."

**"No fair!" ** Nibi whined.

"You mean there's someone..like me here?"

He nodded, "I'm afraid you'll have to find him. Law prevents me from telling you his name."

**"'He'? It's a guy? Kami, please let kyuu-kun's container be cute!"**

_"Nibi! Quit it!"_

* * *

"Ok, everyone gather around for taijutsu practice." Iruka called out, motioning everyone towards the training ring.

Naruto sighed when he spotted Sasuke glaring at him from the other side of the ring...again. He looked over at Kiba, "You know, this really getting tiresome."

"Ah, he just can't stand competition." The Inuzuka scoffed.

"All right you two, pipe down." Iruka said, "Ok, these'll just be basic sparring matches. Taijutsu ONLY. No weapons, nin- or genjutsu, got it?" He checked a clipboard, "First up: Chouji Akimichi and Kiba Inuzuka."

As the two got up to face each other, Hinata came up to Naruto, "Um..Naruto-kun?"

"What's up Hinata?"

"Well, Father would like you to come over after class. Mother's been wanting to meet you for a while."

Naruto felt uneasy about that. He had no idea how the Hyuugas felt about him. But the hopeful look on the girls face didn't leave him with much choice, "Ok. I'll go." He nodded before turning back to the match

The match was rather straightforward until Kiba poked fun of Chouji's size and ended up getting sat on until he gave up. Hinata went against Sakura and quickly ended it with her family's fighting style. Naruto didn't know the name of Ino's opponent, but she fared better than her friend/rival. The next two were supposed to be Shino and Shikimaru, but the Nara forfeited and sat down. A few other matches went by until..

"Next: Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki."

the fangirls immediately began yelling for Sasuke and claiming that he'd wipe the floor with Uzumaki. Sasuke gave a scowl as Naruto slid into the Strong Fist stance.

"What's your problem, Sasuke? You've been giving me the evil eye ever since I got here."

"You." He muttered before charging him.

Naruto quickly jumped out of the way, "Me? What'd I do?" He blocked a kick and shoved him away.

"How do you manage to push yourself like you do? What is your secret?" He yelled, throwing a punch at Naruto's face as hard as he can, only to have it blocked.

"It's just something I have. I can last a while so I just keep going 'till I get tired."

"Tell me! How can a parentless freak like you do something I can't?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed, "What did you call me?" He snarled.

**"Real smart move, brat.." ** Kyuubi muttered,

"Uchiha!" Iruka snapped, "That was uncalled for!"

"This is gonna get ugly.." Kiba whispered to Shikamaru.

"You heard.." He was cut off when the blonde werewolf dashed forward and brought his foot up with surprisingly vicious force...right between Sasuke's legs..

The fangirls screamed and every guy around cringed. Sasuke let out a gurgle as he slowly went cross-eyed and sank to the ground in a heap.

**"Ouch!"**

"Naruto..was that really necessary?" Shino asked. Even he was wincing a bit, "I doubt even he deserved that."

Iruka sighed, "I'll take him to the nurse's office. Everyone just sit tight until I get back." He dragged the still curled up Uchiha off. After a few moments, the fangirls shock faded and they immediately gave dark looks towards Naruto.

"You BAKA! How dare you hit Sasuke-kun!" One of them screeched at him, "You should've forfeited if you knew what was good for you!"

"SHUT IT!" He roared at her, making her jump back, "The teme crossed the line, and you do NOT cross the line with Naruto Uzumaki! Got it!"

Students quickly moved aside as he walked over to a bench.

* * *

Later that day after school, Naruto was heading to Ichiraku Ramen for lunch. He had manged to settle down a bit from the match, but he was still ticked that Sasuke would go that low.

**"Calm down, Kit. It's in the past now. Although I will admit, the Uchiha's expression was kind of funny."**

_"Yeah, but still.."_

As the two talked, Yugito was racing in his direction.

_"Are you sure their this way, Nibi?" _She asked

**"Defiantly, Kitten. I'd bet both tails on it!" ** By now, Nibi was hopping around like kid the night before Christmas. She could barely wait to see Kyuubi again.

Unfortunately, all 4 were too busy talking to watch where they were going..

WHAM!"

"Itai!" both yelled as they were sent sprawling to the ground, "Hey, why don't you want where you're going?"

In the seals, a different reaction was had.

**"Kyuu-kun!"**

**"N-Nibi-Chan?**

* * *

A chapter in one day, not too bad.

next time: meeting Yugito and the Hyuugas.


	7. The Feline and The Family

Speech

_Thought_

**Kyuubi/Nibi**

**GraityTheWizard: **He's more or less shocked to see her.

**Shinteo-5: **Just didn't feel like doing it that way.

To all those asking: yes, Naruto will be able to go back to human form before long.

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 6: The Feline and The Family**

_"Nibi? Who the heck are you talking about, fox?" _Naruto rubbed his sore nose

**"That girl..she carries the two-tailed cat: Nibi no Nekomata. Uh..heh..she kinda has a thing for me."**

_"Come again..?"_

**"That's him! That's my Foxy-Kun's container!" **Nibi squealed gleefully

_"Huh?" _ Yugito took a look at who bumped into her and nearly went bug-eyed at what she saw, "_F-Furry...ears..tail...kawaii.."_ came her thoughts as she stared at the fur-clad boy in front of him.

Nibi giggled, **"That's Kyuubi's container, and it seems you're taken with him as well."**

_"N-Nani? No way!"_ She protested, blushing profusely as she did, _"So what if he's cute and fuzzy. Wait..why IS he fuzzy?"_

_"Wait..are you saying you and this Nibi dated_ ?"

**"It was more like a couple of friends just doing stuff until I got put in you."**

_"Speaking of that..you've never told me why you attacked in the first place."_

**"Uh..heh..well..I kinda had a bit of ego..being called 'strongest of the tailed beasts'll do that to a guy. Especially since I'm still in my mid-teens by our standards even though I've been around a few thousand years. When I found out Konoha was considered the strongest shinobi village, I thought I could take them.."**

"Wait..you attacked because you were a COCKY TEENAGER? BAKA KITSUNE!"

**"I paid for it, ok? I got all 9 of my tails handed to me by one human. Granted, he was pretty damn tough, but he was still human. "**

_sigh "Fine, but how come you didn't tell me she was in the village?"_

**"I've tackled him so many times, I guess hiding my chakra from him has become habit."**

_"Ok..so..do we tell him?"_

**"Duh! Hurry up and do it! By now Kyuu-kun's told him about me."**

_"All right, all right! Keep your fur on." _Yugito dusted herself off as Naruto did the same, "So, you carry Kyuubi, huh?" She was trying her hardest not to tackle him.

Naruto's face shot up, "Uh..yeah. And..you have Nibi, right?"

She nodded, "Name's Yugito Nii. Nibi's kinda excited right now.

"Naruto Uzumaki. Yeah..Kyuubi told me about her." After a second he realized he had walked into her while he was talking to the fox, "Uh..sorry bout earlier.."

"Hm? Oh...yeah..I wasn't watching either."

"Well, I better get going. I gotta be somewhere." In his anger at Sasuke, he had almost forgotten to go to the Hyuugas.

"Want some company?" The urge to touch his fur was getting harder to resist and Nibi was insistent about staying with Kyuubi.

"I guess. Dunno what kind of reaction you'll get, though. He replied, starting off towards the Hyuuga compound with her in tow.

Along the way Yugito found out he was a werewolf. Although it unnerved her a bit at first, the 'kawaii' factor overruled the feeling fast. Naruto learned she was brought here Kumo and mentioned some from there tried to get away with a kidnapping in Konoha but got stopped. He left out that he did it since he didn't think it was all that important. All the while he saw her act like she was thinking of touching his ears. Finally he gave in and gave her the ok, something she didn't need said a second time and stayed like that the remainder of the walk.

Hinamori Hyuuga paced around anxiously, "Hiashi, are you sure he's coming?"

"Dear, Hinata asked him herself. Just relax. I'm sure he'll be here shortly" He grinned when there was a knock at the door, "See?"

Naruto and Yugito were led in by a maid, both looking a tad uneasy. Hinata, when she saw the blonde girl holding onto his arms, suddenly developed a twitch over her eye that Naruto and Kyuubi noticed.

_"Kyuubi..did she just.?"_

**"Yes she did, Kit. Something tells me you might wanna keep on your toes here."**

"Naruto Uzuumaki?" Hinamori asked, stepping up to him.

"Uh..yeah..?" He barely had time to finish his response when he found himself in a bearhug courtesy of the woman.

"Oh thank you so much! If it hadn't been for you, my daughter would have.." She didn't bother finish and tightened the hug.

"Wait..he stopped the guy? You didn't say anything about that!" Yugito said.

"I didn't think it was a big deal." Came his reply.

"You told her?" Hiashi asked, raising an eye.

Naruto gasped for air after finally being let go, "She said she was from Kumo and it reminded me."

Hiashi thought to himself for a moment, _"She couldn't be the 'peace offering' the Raikage sent, could she? Then again, given the current one's attitude, I wouldn't put it past him. I'll take to Sarutobi about this." He mused before focusing back to the two, _"I believe you two are just in time for dinner."

"Cool, I'm getting kinda hungry."

Naruto soon regretted that statement when he found himself sitting between the two girls.

**"Well, it seems we have some competition for our little foxwolf." ** Nibi chuckled.

_"What do you mean 'our' ?" _

**"Oh come now, Yugi; you're liking the boy, admit it. He carries a tailed beast like you, so it's safe to assume he's had the same treatment you did in Kumo. You have something in common in that regard. Though it looks like he's not letting it get to him. Besides, he's got attitude, can't deny that."**

_"Well, I'll admit he's a little cute, for a kid."_

**"A little? Girl, my gut's telling me that'll be an understatement in a few years."**

As dinner came, the Hyuugas and Yugito quickly learned Naruto didn't just look like a wolf, he could eat like one too. "I burn a lotta calories training." was his reason for scarfing down almost a full roast.

What he didn't see were the two girls starting to try and stare each other down through the remainder of the meal; although the adults did, much to Hinamori's amusement.

* * *

Back in Kumo, everyone was trying to calm down a thoroughly pissed off Raikage who was stomping around and screaming obscenities at everyone in range. The cause of his tantrum: a scroll that just arrived from Konoha by bird. He had opened it assuming it was a demand to take the girl back. Instead it was a photo..

..of Sarutobi giving the middle finger and the words, "NICE TRY, JACKASS!" written below.

"Sarutobi, you son of a bitch!" The Raikage screamed to the heavens.

* * *

That'll be the last of Kumo and the Raikage in this story, I just couldn't resist having his con backfire.

Fair warning: the next chapter will be a timeskip, although there'll still be brief descriptions of what happens during it

Next time: time goes on and Mizuki gets a nasty surprise.


	8. Night of The Beast

Speech

_Thought_

**Kyuubi/Nibi**

_**Full-Wolf Naruto**_

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 7: Night Of The Beast**

"NARUTO!" A group of chunins screamed as they chased the blonde across the rooftops of Konoha. However, the chase had gone on for close to two hours and they were starting to get winded. Naruto, on the other hand, was still going strong thanks to his unreal stamina and the taijutsu he still practiced with Lee and Guy when the three had time to meet up

"Come back here, Uzumaki!"

"You're not getting away this time!"

As for why they were after him: the boy had been caught painting the Hokage monument as a prank, although he was already finished when that happened. As time went on, Naruto had developed a taste for practical jokes. Mostly it was on people he felt needed a bit of embarrassing to take them down a peg or two; though every now and then it was full-scale ones like this, just to keep the village on its toes.

"Come on, guys! Don't tell you're giving up already!" Naruto laughed as he sped up, leaving them behind. It wasn't long before he lost them and he took a moment to admire his work from a distance. All four faces now were blushing with perverted grins on their faces; the Third and First even had nosebleeds, the sight of which sent him into a fit of laughter. That is until he felt a presence behind him.

"You really did it this time, Naruto!" Came the voice of Iruka as he grabbed hold of the blonde's collar.

"Oh, hey, Iruka-Sensei." He said sheepishly. Out of all the teachers at school; even from a good bit of the shinobi population, Iruka was the only person who seemed capable of catching him.

Iruka gave him an exasperated look, "You know you're going to be washing the monument off after school. That and detention for sneaking out"

"I know. It was still worth it" He said as the chunin dragged him off back to class.

7 years had passed since he first attended the academy and a fair bit had changed since then. Ever since Naruto nearly castrated Sasuke, Sakura had grown to dislike the young werewolf because of that and unfortunately became highly loyal to the brooding boy. Ino was rather angry with him for a while for it, but was able to realize that Sasuke brought it on himself with the insult.

Hinata, even though she was a tad smaller than most of the girls in class, had made up for it with a confident attitude similar to her mother and the skills to back it up. She was one of Naruto's closer friends, although she would drop hints that she hoped to become more than that. However, this meant she routinely butted heads with Yugito and Hana, who had also become enamored with him over the last few years due to his 'never say die' attitude and somewhat rowdy disposition. On the negative, a few months after the attempt to kidnap her failed, another try was made. It was quickly stopped; but Hizashi, the head of the Hyuuga's branch family and Hiashi's brother, died in the fight from a poisoned shuriken. He left behind a son, Neji, who was quick to place the blame for his father's death on Hinata for getting kidnapped in the first place. This soon turned into a hatred for the entire main house.

As for those two; Yugito enrolled in the academy shortly after arriving in Konoha. Since she had already undergone some training prior to her arrival, she was able to graduate along with Hana. They both became chunin shortly after and took up working with Tsume at her veterinary office. They had also become somewhat good friends with recently appointed jounin Anko Mitarashi and Kurenai Yuuhi, even though they would sometimes argue with each other over the blonde. The quartet soon became known as ' The Pervert's Bane'

Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba more or less remained the same; though Shikamaru had developed a fondness for playing shougi and Kiba, like every Inuzuka, had gotten his own canine partner named Akamaru. The pooch was scared half to death of Naruto in the beginning but soon grew accustomed to the furry shinobi-in-training.

And Sasuke still remained an angst-riddled brooder.

In Naruto's case, change was somewhat drastic. He was only 13 now, but his werewolf blood had him standing almost eye-to eye with Iruka (not sure how tall Iruka's supposed to be though). That combined with his waist-length gold hair left several girls wondering what he would look like underneath his fur, namely the fanclub he was reluctant to admit he had gained

* * *

Later that day, Iruka was keeping watch as Naruto scrubbed down the stone faces. Thanks to his wolf senses, Naruto could tell the man didn't harbor any ill will toward him, so he was able to let his guard down a bit.

"I don't get it, Naruto. You get moderately decent grades in class, the only person I'm aware of you having problems with is Sasuke, and from what I've seen, several girls seem to like you. So, what in the world possesses you to do stuff like this??"

Naruto shrugged, "Well, normally I just prank stuck-up jerks who deserve it, sometimes I just like keeping everyone guessing." He let out a sigh, "And..well..I guess you heard about what happened when I was 5, right?"

Iruka frowned, people still talked about that day. More than once, he had heard that some had tried to get revenge for his fighting back, or just to punish the boy again for what he carried. He had ended up in the hospital more than once from being outnumbered, but he never went alone. They seemed to forget that in a way, Naruto was part animal now, and a cornered animal was dangerous.

"I guess, in a way, it's kinda also my way of just blowing off steam from the crap I still have to deal with."

He went back to scrubbing for a bit until Iruka spoke back up. "Tell you what. We'll hit Ichiraku when you're finished. What do you say?"

A grin appeared on the werewolf's face, "You're on!" he responded, scrubbing harder.

The sun had set after he was finished and the two were soon at the stand polishing off the bowls in front of them.

"Say, Naruto. I've been wondering. Why do you want to become a ninja?"

"Why? In a nutshell, I'd guess mainly 'cause I wanna show everyone I'm more than just what they see. That I'm more than just a werewolf, you know?"

Meanwhile, in the seal, Kyuubi was studying the wolf statue like he had been the last few years. Since it represented Naruto's wolf side, he was sure it could tell him why the kit couldn't change back. **"Come on..there's gotta be something here." ** He muttered, using his tails to try and feel out anything that could give him an answer. Suddenly he felt something, and he couldn't help but smirk, ** "I'll be damned..why the hell didn't I notice that before?"**

Naruto and Iruka had just finished and were heading their separate ways when Kyuubi started yelling, **"Kit! I figured it out!"**

_"Gah! Dammit fox, don't do that! I nearly jumped outta my fur!"_

**"Never mind that! Listen, I finally figured out why you can't revert back to human form!"**

_"Well? What is it?!"_

**"Hurry up and get to the woods! I'll tell you once you get there; we got a busy night ahead."**

_"Ok, ok. Keep your tails on." _ He muttered as he jogged to the edge of town. Anyone still awake later that night claimed to hear a baleful howl echoing from the forest

* * *

The next day, an announcement was made that sent a chill down Naruto's spine: exams. It wasn't the exam itself he hated; it was what was called for. He had already failed twice before because the exam had them perform all three academy jutsus, including the Clone Jutsu. He hated that technique since he could never get it right regardless of how often he practiced. Kyuubi had warned him his higher than normal chakra reserves would require more control and thus make it harder to perform some jutsus but he hadn't expected it to be just about impossible for such a basic one. The Transformation and Substitution Jutsus took him nearly a year to get right, but he had yet to make a clone that didn't look like an anemic training dummy. This time it was worse bacause it was the finals; this one would decide who graduated

The students entered the back room one by one as Iruka called them. Naruto sweatdropped when a smug-looking Sasuke came out to the cheers of his fangirls the moment they saw him with a headband on. The blonde was beginning to swear under his breath with he felt something settle on his cheek. A quick glance over revealed Hinata leaning over and giving him a quick peck.

"Good luck, Naruto-kun." She said, blushing brightly. He gave a silent thanks to Kami that his own was hidden by the fur, "Thanks, Hina."

"Uzumaki, Naruto." Came Iruka's voice from the door. Naruto took a deep breath and went in, ignoring the whispered jeers from the Uchiha's fan corner.

His eyes narrowed slightly when they landed on the face of Mizuki, one of Iruka's fellow chunin instructors. He acted friendly, but Kyuubi and Naruto's senses told him there was something about the man that wasn't to be trusted. At the moment, however, he would have to put that aside if he hoped to pass.

Transforming and subbing went off without a hitch. When Mizuki asked him to create a clone, he did his best to relax and took a deep breath to clear his head.

_"Ok, Naruto. Third time's the charm, right? Please let this work. _Clone Jutsu!" He called out, enveloping himself in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, he quickly looked over and blanched.

His clone was bone white and laying in a heap like a rag doll.

"I'm sorry Naruto. But, you fail." Came the most dreaded words the werewolf had ever heard from Iruka's mouth.

When class let out, Naruto sat slumped against a tree in the schoolyard watching parents congratulate and fawn over their kids.

"Is that..?"

"Yeah, I heard he failed."

"Hm, serves him right. Can you imagine if they made THAT a ninja?"

He glanced at the pair trash-talking him and bared his fangs in a snarl to shut them up. It was then he caught wind of someone in the tree above him.

"You really want to become a shinobi, don't you, Naruto." Mizuki piped up as he hopped down.

"To put it mildly." Came the reply. For a moment, Naruto swore he saw a malicious glint in the man's eyes.

**"Keep your eyes on this teme, Kit. He's got something up his sleeve."** Growled Kyuubi.

"I'm not really supposed to tell this to anyone; but, there is another way for you to become a genin. Have you ever heard of the Forbidden Scroll...?"

* * *

"Iruka! Quick, get up!" A jounin yelled as he banged on the instructor's door, rousing the man from a peaceful nap, "It's Naruto, he's stolen the Forbidden Scroll!"

"Say WHAT!?" Iruka yelped.

In the woods, Naruto located a clearing where he could take a breather and check the scroll out. He was surprised and slightly disappointed at how easy it had been for him to get in and take it. Granted, he had a pretty good sense of stealth from setting up all his pranks, but this was the Hokage Tower. He decided to tell the old man after he brought the scroll back.

**"You know there's something fishy as to why he would tell you and not everyone's little Prince Uchiha, right?" ** The fox commented, giving a disdainful sniff at the name.

_"I know, but if there IS something in here that'll help me get Iruka-Sensei to change his mind, then it won't be a total waste of time." _ With those words, he opened the scroll and looked at the first jutsu he saw, "Shadow Clone Jutsu? Aw man..not clones again! I stink at that!"

**"Kit, wait. This'll be just right for you."**

"What part of 'I stink at clones' did you miss?"

**"Just trust me. I may be a fox, but I know a thing or two about Shinobi Arts."**

Naruto sighed, _"Fine, but you better be right about this."_

Unbeknownst to him, however, Iruka was heading his way, and fast.

* * *

"NARUTO! What the hell were you thinking, swiping the Forbidden Scroll!?" The chunin yelled as he landed behind the boy. It took him a couple hours of searching, but he had managed to locate him before the other chunins and jounins the Hokage had sent.

"Oh, hey, Iruka-Sensei. I see you caught me again." Naruto chuckled. He was sweating up a storm and had removed his shirt. What surprised Iruka was the boy wasn't acting like a caught thief.

"I only had time to learn one jutsu from the scroll, but it should be enough to show I have what it takes to make genin so you'll pass me."

_"All this time he's been studying? _Wait, what you talking about?" Iruka asked, now confused.

"Mizuki-Sensei told me the jutsus in this scroll are a guaranteed graduation if you can just learn one." Naruto said, still catching his breath.

_"Why would Mizuki tell..." _Iruka was cut from his thoughts by the familiar sound of shurikin whizzing through the air. He looked in time to see a giant one spinning towards them. "Naruto! Look out!" He yelled, diving in front of him.

Naruto, on the other hand, saw it coming as well and yanked his teacher out of the way, letting the weapon bury itself in the ground. He frowned at the smell on it, _"Mizuki, you little bastard. I had a feeling you were up to something. Guess this cinches it"_

**"Looks like he was just too big a chicken to try for it himself." **

"Impressive reflexes, Naruto." Mizuki called out from a nearby tree. He was clad in full combat gear and had a second shuriken strapped to his back, "Now be a good boy and give me that scroll."

"Don't listen to him, Naruto! He.."

"Just wanted me to get it for him?" The blonde deadpanned, "Yeah. I kinda guessed that after he threw that shuriken at me. To be honest, I never really did trust the guy very much."

Iruka just stared, "Then..then why..?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "Well, a scroll like that was bound to have at least one jutsu that would convince you to rethink my exam grade."

Mizuki scowled as he watched the scene below him. It was time to fight dirty. "Well, I guess there's no point in hiding it now." He smirked as the two looked his way, "You know why everyone hates you, Naruto? Why they all call you names and attack you?"

The other chunin paled. He know what Mizuki was doing, "Stop, Mizuki! It's forbidden!"

The man ignored him and jumped down, "They say that the Forth Hokage destroyed the Kyuubi no Kitsune 13 years ago, but that's a lie! The beast couldn't be destroyed, so he sealed it away in a newborn baby."

"Mizuki, don't!"

"That baby was YOU, Naruto! You ARE the Kyuubi!" He yelled gleefully, expecting the boy to react in shock or fear.

Instead, all he received was a stare.

"And?" Was the young werewolf's reaction. Both Mizuki and Iruka blinked at this.

"What 'and'? Didn't you hear me? I just told you why your hated!"

"And I'm still waiting for you to get to the point." Naruto chuckled, "You turd, I've known about Kyuubi for years! Although, you're only half-right. I 'CARRY' the Kyuubi no Kitsune. There's a difference. And FYI, Mizuki-'sensei', he doesn't like you all that much"

Mizuki blanched. This wasn't what he had planned. The boy was supposed to go in denial, or let his anger get the best of him so it would convince Iruka to help kill him.

"And here's something interesting. Kyuubi's the one who found out why I can't go turn back from my werewolf state."

"Wait..the Kyuubi..told you why?" Iruka's head was starting to swim.

"Yep." Naruto's grin began to take a feral appearance, "You see, it turns out that all this time," As he talked, both chunins watched in a mix of horror and fascination as his body started to grow and become more muscular, the fur gradually becoming sleeker and thicker. His mouth began elongating into a muzzle; the silver in his eyes took over and made them both one solid color, his claws lengthened and his canines extended into fangs, "All this time, _**I've only been transformed halfway!"**_

When he finished speaking, where Naruto was now stood a large bipedal wolf, its midnight-black fur shimmering slightly in the moonlight, though it still carried the blonde mane. The creature stood nearly 7 feet tall with a pair of 3 inch-long fang jutting out from its mouth. Its solid silver eyes focused themselves on a shaking Mizuki. _**"What's wrong, Mizuki-Teme? Afraid of an academy student?"**_ It taunted as it cracked its knuckles, each one sporting a claw nearly an inch long on the fingertip.

"N-Naruto??" Iruka stammered, barely believing what he was seeing. The wolf looked over its shoulder and gave a foxy grin that only Naruto Uzumaki could do.

_**"Hey, Iruka-Sensei. You wanna see the jutsu I learned from the scroll?"**_ He asked, cracking his knuckles and making a cross-shaped seal.

"Uh. s-sure. Naruto." The chunin replied, seeing how scared Mizuki was starting to look..and almost feeling bad for him.

_**"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"**_ He roared. In an instant, the clearing was filled with smoke that just as quickly faded to reveal over a hundred 'Wolf-Narutos'. Each one turned to face Mizuki and they all let out a chilling howl that even made Iruka shudder.

_"Their solid! Naruto..he..he did it. He learned a jounin-level technique..!" _ Iruka thought as all 100 began advancing on the now-panicking Mizuki.

Before they could get him, though, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he toppled over.

_**"Ah crud. that wasn't any fun."**_ Naruto muttered as his clones vanished, leaving only the original and Iruka standing. The blonde shook his head and chuckled as he began shrinking, his fur and muzzle receding in front of the man. In a couple of minutes, the fur was completely gone; Naruto was human-looking once again. He had been changed for so long the height stuck, but human nonetheless.

Iruka rubbed his eyes to be sure he wasn't seeing things. He had just witnessed the boy transform into a massive lupine monster and perform an S-Ranked Kinjutsu, not to mention more or less defeat a chunin who had no doubt turned traitor. A faint smile crossed his face as he watched Naruto pick up his shirt and the scroll and walk over him, "Hey, Naruto; close your eyes for a second."

He gave his teacher a slightly confused look for a moment but complied. He soon felt something being tied around his forehead. As soon as Iruka gave the ok, he looked to find the man without his headband.

"Congratulations, Naruto. You've passed."

"S-Seriously!?" Naruto's eyes widened and he put Iruka into a bear hug the moment he felt the band on his own head. As he did, Iruka quickly noticed something and immediately began feeling pity for the boy when they began announcing teams.

Kyuubi was simply biting onto one of his tails to keep from laughing at the thought.

* * *

The following morning, Konoha was rudely woken up by the scream of one Naruto Uzumaki when he looked in his bathroom mirror.

Not only had he retained the height, but the ears and tail remained as well.

* * *

Hopefully, this'll satisfy everyone who kept wanting a longer chapter.

Next time: Teams and learning from Kyuubi begins.


	9. Genin Life Begins

**Disclaimer: do I gotta say it again...?**

Speech

_Thought_

**Kyuubi**

_**Wolf Naruto**_

**Seimika: **I may be misreading your review, but he doesn't actually have a wolf in him. The wolf statue is pretty much just a representation of Naruto's lycanthropy. The ears and tail are due to that, not Kyuubi.

For those of you wondering, I haven't abandoned 'Naruto:Reborn'. I'm just on a roll with this one and wanna keep it up while my mojo is still going.

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 8: Genin Life Begins**

"Troublesome women.." Shikamaru muttered as he watched Sakura and Ino try to muscle each other out of the doorway. He was more annoyed that their thundering interrupted a perfectly good nap.

"Get out of my way, Ino-Pig! I was here first!" Sakura growled, trying her hardest to shove the other girl aside.

"In your dreams, Forehead!" Ino snapped back as she tried to give her an elbow. Before it made contact, however, someone piped up behind them with a voice that sent a chill down their spines; in a good way.

"Um, as entertaining as this is, could you two let me by before all three of us end up late?"

They whirled around to see a tall young man standing with his hands in his pockets. The hooded trenchcoat he had on concealed his identity but they could see a pair of gleaming silver-blue eyes under the hood. They continued to stare until Iruka took hold of their shoulders.

"All right you two. Inside." He said, leading them in, along with the hooded stranger.

The second he entered Hinata kicked on her Byakugan on reflex and went wide-eyed before clamping down HARD on her nose, and Iruka had to suppress a chuckle at the girl's reaction. Akamaru sniffed and started barking like mad to Kiba.

"Akamaru, what's with you?" Kiba asked as the dog continued to go at it, "Wha..? What do you mean that's Naruto?"

The figure sighed, "Blabbermouth." he muttered. When he saw Hinata's reaction, he knew the jig was up and took off his coat. It took the others a moment before they finally spotted the familiar black ears and tail, along with his waist-long hair, "I figured out how to finally change back."

"NARUTO?!" Came the startled yell from everyone except Hinata, who was now bright red and holding her nose even harder. They could barely believe their eyes; the blonde was still as close to Iruka's height as he had been, but his fur was now gone. In its place was a face that caused a fair number of blushes to show up, the black whisker marks once again visible. He was still barefoot, but now he had on a pair of wraps around them Guy had given him along with a basic pair of shinobi pants and vest with a short-sleeve shirt under it. He was also wearing a pair of thick, black fighting gloves that extended to his elbows. What no one could see, however, was that like all his previous clothing, this new outfit was weighted.

_"Cool, their not glomping me this time." _ He mused, thinking things might be better for him now.

Kyuubi chortled, **"Don't count on it, Kit. They simply thought you were cute and furry before.."**

The comment was, to Naruto's dismay, confirmed when he stepped past Ino and heard her say in a somewhat squeaky voice, "H-hot!" while Sakura was doing her hardest to pretend he wasn't there and stared at Sasuke like mad. Several other girls were following in suit, some were drooling like idiots.. He gulped slightly and tried to shake it off, taking his usual seat beside a still scarlet Hinata. She had managed to finally stem the nosebleed that tried to issue forth after she saw underneath his shirt. She knew he trained with weights, but not that much.

"All of you sit down so I can assign you to your genin teams." Iruka gave them a moment before checking his clipboard and ticking off names, "Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno.."

"CHA! True love conquers all!" The pink-haired kunoichi belted out, sticking her tongue out at the fangirls scowling at her.

"AND.." Iruka raised his voice to get their attention again, "Kiba Inuzuka."

Kiba rolled his eyes. He was no fan on the broody boy. Sakura was too busy enjoying her seat beside her crush to notice both boys looked annoyed.

"Team 8: Chouji Akamichi, Ino Yamanaka, and Shikamaru Nara."

Ino groaned in annoyance and Shikamaru simply sighed. Chouji just focus on his munchies.

"Team 9 is currently still in circulation. Team 10: Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga, and Naruto Uzumaki."

Shino merely nodded. Hinata, on the other hand, was fighting the urge to squeal in excitement at being teamed up with her own crush. Naruto was a mix of being glad he wasn't teamed up with 'Emo-Boy' as he called Sasuke and almost pitying Kiba.

"All right, that's everyone. Your instructors will be here momentarily. I wanna wish you all luck with your new lives as Konoha genins." Iruka said as he left the room.

A few minutes later the Jounins began arriving. Naruto was a little surprised to see Kurenai and Asuma were two of them. He hadn't expected either to become instructors. For a moment, he could've sworn Kurneai went bug-eyed and blushed slightly when she looked his way.

Hinata noticed and twitched slightly. _"Aw HELL NO!" _She grumbled to herself, "It's bad enough I gotta worry about Hana and Yugito!"

"Team 10? Follow me." Kurenai said as soon as she composed herself.

"Naruto?" Shino spoke up as the trio left with their instructor, "My insects have been acting somewhat odd since you arrived."

"What do you mean, Shino?" Hinata asked. Naruto glanced over at him.

"They seem..curious about you now for some reason. They say your chakra is more...beastly...than before."

The blonde tensed and cursed himself for forgetting how sensitive the Aburame clan's bugs were to chakra. He had wanted to keep his full form a secret until he knew how others would react, "Well, I'd have to show you. But not right now, ok?

"Ok."

"Very well."

* * *

Hinata was starting to get pissed. Their jounin instructor was leading them through the streets of Konoha and since Naruto had forgotten his coat back at school, just about every girl between 12 and 20 was staring at him. Some seemed innocent enough, mainly giggling and blushing; but quite a few were giving him hungry looks; and she did NOT like that. The Hyuuga heiress wasn't a violent person, but she was going to throw down if any of them tried anything.

It took them a while to realize Kurenai was taking them to a dango shop. The three students gave her an odd look.

"No sense getting to know each other on an empty stomach." Was her response. They took a table and made their orders. As they waited, they started telling each other a bit about themselves, like Kurenai's hatred of perverts and the book a certain silver-haired jounin always has, Shino's dream to follow in his father's footsteps as an honorable clan leader, Naruto's hobbies of training and hunting (he IS partially a wolf, after all), and Hinata's dislike of her clan's elders and the sidelong glance she gave naruto while discussing her likes.

Kurenai polished off her last dumpling and smiled at her group, "That wasn't too bad. All right, I suggest you get some rest, Your final exam is tomorrow."

"But we already took the finals in class." Naruto said.

"Actually that test was just a qualifier. The real one will show whether or not you have what it really takes to be shinobi." She got up to pay the tab, "Meet at Training Ground 4 tomorrow at 7AM sharp. And NO latecomers, got it?"

The trio quickly nodded, they all had a feeling tomorrow was going to keep them on their toes

* * *

The next morning Kurenai met up with the three genins at the training area; a moderately-sized clearing out in the woods. When they arrived, she procured a small clock and began to wind it, "Your task will be to locate and attempt to capture me before this timer goes off. You'll have 2 hours, starting now!" With that, she vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Well, we better get in gear. She's probably gonna try and mess with our heads while we hunt for her." Naruto muttered, "Kurenai specializes in genjutsu. She caught a guy trying to peek in the bathhouse one time and hit him with an illusion that made him think his clothes were trying to eat him."

Hinata raised her eyes at the very idea, "She wouldn't use something like that on us, would she?"

"I doubt it. She reserves her nastiest stuff for people who have it coming. She'll more than likely just use ones to stall us." He replied, "Either way, we better get going. Shino, can genjutsu affect your bugs?"

"No. Insect minds aren't quite as complex as most creatures." The Aburame said, quickly catching on and sending out some into the woods. Meanwhile, Hinata was using her Byakugan to keep watch and Naruto kept his ears and nose open for anything.

After a few slightly uneasy minutes, a handful of the insects came back and the team headed off in the direction they gave Shino. They moved as fast as they could without making noise, hoping to get as close as they could before the jounin decided to make her move.

Hinata noticed the blonde was constantly darting his eyes around in a somewhat nervous manner, "Naruto-kun, are you ok? Your acting kinda jittery."

"Well, to be honest, Hina; I'm not real good with genjutsus. They're my biggest weakness." He answered, getting looks from both of them, "Just couldn't get the hang of it. The only way I can get out of one is physical injury. That's why I'm hoping we can get to her first."

**"You're forgetting I'm here, Kit." ** Came Kyuubi's voice in his mind, **"You might not be too big on using my power, but that doesn't mean i won't be watching your back."**

_"I know. It still makes me a lil uneasy though.." _ He was cut off when Shino nudged him and subtlly pointed up towards a nearby tree. All three looked to see Kurenai crouched up on a branch.

Any thoughts of beating her to the punch were immedantly extinguished, thought, when she suddenly spun around and grinned at them, going through seals as she did.

"She was expecting us!" Shino said, watching her fade away.

The next 60 minutes would come to be 'the weirdest damn hour ever' for the genin team. Thanks to the genjutsu mistress' sense of humor, Shino found himself conversing with a 3-foot-tall stag beetle. Hinata nearly passed out when she thought she saw Naruto pulling off his shirt, and the werewolf was clinging to a branch in an attempt to get away from the horde of screaming fangirls he was seeing. Kurenai was in pain from holding back her laughter at the sight.

**"KIT! Snap out of it!" **Kyuubi yelled in an attempt to get the blonde to realize what was happening, **"You're in one of her illusions, dammit!"**

"Wha..Kyuubi.?" Not expecting the yell, Naruto lost his hold on the branch and fell to the ground with a loud THUD. Fortunately it was only a few feet, "Ow..think I landed on a rock." He sat up and blinked in confusion, "Their gone...?"

**"Kit, they were never there anyway. That woman got all three of you."**

"Aw man! And using fangirls!? That's just plain low!" He looked over to see Hinata staring dreamily at a tree and Shino talking to..well, nothing, 'Ok, she brought this on herself!" He summoned up a shadow clone to wake Hinata when he got Shino. It took them a few minutes to get them out of the genjutsus, but all three were soon free and glaring at Kurenai with annoyance..

"GET HER!" Naruto shouted as he led the charge.

What occurred next could only be described as a mass of blurs ricocheting off the trees. However, before they could get to the jounin, the timer finally went off.

_"Saved by the bell." _ Kurenai thought, slightly winded. The trio had given her a run for her money, "Well, you didn't complete the objective, but, that doesn't mean you failed."

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked, still a little irked at the illusion that had been used on her.

The jounin chuckled, "The real test was to see if you could work as a team. And I'm pleased to say that you three did just that."

"Wait..are you saying what I think you are?" Naruto's ears perked up.

"Exactly. I'm happy to say that Team 10 passes! We'll begin our first mission early tomorrow morning."

Shino stifled a chuckle as Naruto whooped and put Hinata in a hug, much to the girl's surprise and delight.

* * *

Back at his apartment, Naruto had begun trying to take inventory of all his remaining gear when he found a couple of empty storage scrolls under his bed, "Forgot I had these." He remembered Asuma getting them for him when he was 9, but he never learned how to use them.

**"Kit, now that you've achieved your first goal, I believe it's time I had a hand in your training; and those scrolls will be perfect for what I'm going to start you off in."**

_"You're going to teach me to use a storage seal??"_

**"To start with. I also selected a few jutsus from the Forbidden Scroll while you were learning shadow clones. I will warn you, though, the training I plan to have you do will put a high strain on your chakra and be painful at the beginning."**

_"I'm no stranger to pain, fox. Remember?"_

**"True. So, do you think you can handle it?"**

_"Heh, you're on, fox. When do we start?"_

**"Right now."**

* * *

I know the genin test wasn't exactly grand, but I couldn't think up a really good way to do it,

Before anyone freaks about how Kurenai went about in this chapter; in the anime, during the chunin exams, Asuma remarks that Kurenai hadn't been a Jounin very long. So, in that light, she's somewhat of a rookie jounin and it's possible that this team could've been her very first one.

Next time: To Wave!


	10. Do The Wave

**Disclaimer: ah, you know!**

Speech

_Thought_

**Kyuubi**

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 9: Do The Wave.**

Naruto sat panting, his head was pulsing from so many shadow clones dispelling at one time. He had set close to 50 working on tree and water walking, balancing on kunai, and levitating them. When they vanished after completing the task, the sudden influx of info sent him reeling.

**"Oh yeah. That's something you should really watch out for. Too many going at once'll really mess you up." **Kyuubi commented

_"Really? Gee, thanks for the warning." _ Naruto muttered sarcastically. The two got along, but the fox could still be twisted at times.

**"Anyway, you better get going. You still have to see the old man about those kunai and find yourself a weapon to work with. Once you do that, we get down to the nitty-gritty."**

_"Finally." _ The blond said before darting off to down, "_I think I know just the place. Lee mentioned it one time. Said one of his teammates gets a discount."_

Before long, he was soon in an older part of town. Most of the buildings there showing their age, a few looked slightly dilapidated. He wandered around until he found a small building with a sigh saying 'Higarashi Arms' over the door.

"This looks like the place." He said, going in. He was greeted by an impressive and somewhat intimidating sight. Weapons filled the place; shelves, boxes, axes, swords, even warhammers and spears were mounted on the walls.

**"DAMN! I've seen people who enjoy weapons, but this takes the riceball."**

Naruto could only.nod as he wandered around. He ran his hand over a pair of fontons and checked out a kodiachi before moving on. As he looked, he examined several weapons until he rounded a sword rack and saw IT...

"Whoa..." Was all he could say. Hanging on the wall in front of him was a huge greatsword. From tip to tip it was 6 feet long with a 4 foot long, 1 foot wide blade and gleamed almost pure white. The tip was curved, like a popsicle stick, making one continuous edge around the entire blade. The handle was a simple rod wrapped in leather with a spherical pommel capping the end. Naruto was nearly mesmerized by the weapon and reached out to pick it up.

"I see that one's caught your eye." A voice nearby jostled him from his trance. He looked over to see a heavily scarred man in his late 30s standing behind the counter that Naruto assumed was Higarashi, " I wouldn't really bother if I was you. That thing's pretty damn heavy. The only one I've seen able to lift it is Might Guy, but he never wanted it."

A smirk crossed Naruto's lips as he took hold of the handle, "I'll take that as a challenge." With a hefty lift, he pulled it off the mounting hooks, much to the man's shock. He had to admit the guy wasn't joking when he said it was heavy. As soon as it was off the hooks, he was forced to grip it with both hands, but he was holding it.

**"I gotta admit, impressive choice, Kit." **Kyuubi remarked.

"Holy crap." The man whispered. When Naruto rested the blade on his shoulder and turned to face him, he saw the whisker marks, "Well, Naruto Uzumaki." He grinned at the blonde's reaction, "Yeah, I've heard of you."

"Well, I guess you know about my...circumstances.. then." He said, setting a hand on his stomach. He didn't sense any ill-will from the man, but he still stayed alert in case something did happen.

Higarashi raised an eye, "So you know?" A nod was his only answer, "To be honest, I kinda pity the ignorant bastards that seem to think you really are the fox. Hell, if you were, then this place would've been leveled years ago thanks to them.But enough of that, I gotta say you surprised me, son. That's one of the first weapons I got when I first opened this shop. It was supposedly made in Whirlpool Country. Never found out the name of it, though; but my daughter decided to christen it Silverfang..

Naruto's eyes widened at that bit of info, _"This sword came from the same place as Mom? _How much do you want for it?"

Higarashi chuckled, "Hell, your the only guy that's managed to lift AND want the thing; you can have it. To be honest, people who've wanted it just wanted to make a decoration outta it. Higarashis only sell weapons for use."

"Cool." He started admiring the blade again, "Got a scabbard or sheath I can put this in?"

Higarashi rubbed his chin for a moment, "Nothing big enough for that; but I think I can work something out. Let me have that vest of yours real quick."

Naruto gave him a puzzled look for a second before shrugging and handing it over. As soon as he had a hold of it, he nearly doubled over from the weight, "Damn, son! What's in this thing!?"

"Heh, I train a lot with weights." Naruto chuckled at the man's expression.

"Kami, you're as bad as my daughter's teammate."

"You mean Rock Lee? _Guess that explains things."_

"That's the one. I still say he and Guy gotta be related somehow." Higarashi lugged the vest into the back and Naruto set the sword up on the counter and decided to restock on supplies while he waited. He grabbed up a few extra kunai and explosive tags when he heard the man coming back out and a loud thump on the counter. He grinned when he came back to see that a holster had been attached to the vest so he could just fasten the sword into it.

After insisting he at at least pay for that, Naruto took his new weapon and headed to his next destination: the Hokage tower for his father's Hiraishin kunai

* * *

Sarutobi was pleasantly surprised when the blond came into his office asking about the technique, much less wanting to learn it. After a brief, and rather colorful, argument with Homura, the Hokage handed over a scroll belonging to Minato containing a set of the required kunai along with instructions for them.

The next few months quickly became some of the busiest in Naruto's life. Thankfully, Kyuubi had gotten him used to the idea of multitasking; while he worked with his taijutsu and on getting used to the Silverfang's size and weight, a small army of shadow clones would be fine-tuning his chakra control, practicing sealing items into scrolls and jutsus that the fox would select, even working on catching thrown weapons. In between, he would work on the Hiraishin, although for now all he could get was little more than a foot or two. Fortunately, things to improve when his team finally caught him during one of his training sessions. Kurenai and Shino were rather startled at the sheer number of clones he was able to make, though Shino hid his reaction. Hinata, on the other hand, could only think, 'wall-to-wall Narutos!'. Once they got over the surprise, it didn't take long before they were joining in when they weren't on missions.

"That looked painful.." Naruto commented when Shino's kunai hit his clone square in the face, making it vanish. Kurenai had been called to the Hokage's office so it was just the three of them.

**"Kit, nows your chance. Get over there and say something to her! You KNOW she likes you!" **Kyuubi called out, trying to egg his container on. Truth be told, Naruto knew how Hinata felt; he had even grown to find her attractive; the only thing keeping him from acting on it was knowing that the clan's elders hated him with a passion and would probably try to punish him through her if they ever did start dating.

_"You crazy?? You know as well as I do what those old geezers might pull." _ Naruto snapped.

**"Hello?! Hiashi Hyuuga: her dad. The guy doesn't mind you. Hell, he could probably whoop off their asses."**

Naruto started to argue when Kurenai appeared in front of them, a determined look on her face.

"We have a mission! A few days ago Team 7 was sent to escort a man back to wave country. On the way they were attacked by a pair of chunin-class missing-nin, then a A-ranked named Zabuza Momichi. They sent word for backup in case things get ugly and since the other teams were currently on missions already, Hokage sama's having us go. I suggest you all get prepared and meet at the main gate, we leave in 30 minutes!" She said before vanishing again.

A short while later the three genins arrived at the gate with Kurenai waiting for them. Naruto could barely hide the grin on his face; his first big mission had finally come.

* * *

Sorry 'bout the big delay, but I had trouble getting the start of the chapter how I wanted.

I know this chapter's kinda short; planning to make the wave arc one chapter.


	11. Do The Wave Again

**Disclaimer: Blah blah, don't own, blah blah.**

Speech

_Thought_

**Kyuubi**

_**Wolf-Naruto**_

**theDragonBard: **That may be, but the idea of him instantly doing it perfectly didn't really sit well with me.

**Edo Ryuujin: **The sword? Well, the tip is rounded with the edge going over both sides; no hilt, just the blade narrowing into the handle, and that's it. In a way, imagine a big bladed oar, and there you have it. I know, it's nothing real fancy, but I kinda wanted to go with something that says 'simple, but deadly'.

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 10: Do The Wave Again**

"THIS is Wave!?" Kurenai and the genins could hardly believe their eyes. It took them a few days to reach the town Team seven were at, but what greeted them was near ruin: the entire place looked to be in poverty, people were wandering the streets begging for anything to spare. Naruto let out a snarl when he saw a little kid rummaging in a trash can; bringing up memories of when he was forced to do that same.

"What happened to this place?" Hinata asked, looking mournfully at the child as well.

"More like who. And that 'who' is Gato." A weary voice spoke up nearby. They looked over to see an elderly woman who looked pale, "Wave's been destitute ever since that..that _thing.._took over all shipping from the island. He charges whatever he wants and we can't do a thing to stop it." She sighed, "I just hope Tazuna-san can finish that bridge in time. Then we won't need that horrible little troll."

Shino looked over, "Bridge? You mean the large one we saw on the way here?"

The woman nodded before looking at their headbands, "Konoha ninjas, huh? Tazuna arrived with a group of you fellas a couple days ago. If I remember, it was a one-eyed man with spiky white hair and his nose buried in a smut book...

Kurenai's eye twitched, "Kakashi Hatake.."

"There was a kid with a lil pooch on his head, a girl with pink hair who seemed more interested with a broody-looking boy that was with them than anything else."

"Can you tell us where they might be now?" Kurenai asked.

"Well, if their with Tazuna, then odds are they'll be at his place." The old lady gave them the directions before taking her leave

On the way, Hinata saw a look of concern on her sensei's face, "What is it?"

Kurenai furrowed her brow, "This Gato character sounds like someone who'd do anything to keep the power he's already aquired."

"You think he might have sent the missing-nin after Team 7 and Tazuna?" Shino asked, getting a nod in response.

"It's a strong possibility, but we'll have to ask the others to be absolutely sure"

The group made their way to where the woman said Tazuna's family lived. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he walked, grateful to Kyuubi for suggesting he cover up his ears and tail just to be safe. While he still had on his usual attire, he now had a bandanna wrapped around his head and his tail under a trench coat.

It wasn't long before they found the right place and were greeted by a slightly haggard-looking old man that they guessed was Tazuna. Beside him was a young woman that Tazuna introduced as his daughter, Tsunami.

Inside they saw a white-haired man with his headband covering his left eye and reading a book. From the glare Kurenai was giving him, the genins guessed he was Kakashi.

"Oh, hey, Kurenai. So, the Hokage sent you guys?" Kakashi spoke up, never taking the book away.

"Yeah." Kurenai was trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice, "Where are the others?"

"I have them doing chakra exercises right now. I figure that Zabuza'll be back within the week after what happened." The one-eyed nin recounted the incident.

The man had attempted to ambush them just before reaching Wave and forced Kakashi to reveal that he had a Sharingan hidden under his headband. The two managed to trade blows for a short while until Zabuza knocked him into the water and followed up with his Water Prison Jutsu. He then sent a Water Clone to finish the others, but with a little help from a couple of Kiba's family jutsus, the genins managed to free Kakashi who promptly took the missing-nin out. Unfortunately, a hunter-nin beat him to the punch and took off with the supposedly dead Zabuza.

"I didn't put it together until we arrived. If that was a real hunter-nin, he would've destroyed Zabuza's body right then and there, plus he used senbon needles in the neck, not a great method to kill, but perfect for faking a death."

"Well, at least that gives us time to prepare. I doubt he'll be expecting another team when he tries again." She motioned for the three to head out, "How 'bout you guys go get some training in? Things are gonna be a little quiet for now at least."

As they left they suddenly heard, "KAKASHI HATAKE! What the hell did I say about reading that garbage around me?!" Followed by a loud WHAP and a yelp of pain.

* * *

Sasuke glared at the tree as if he wished it would burst into flames. A couple of days ago, Kakashi had set them to the task of climbing without using their hands, giving them kunais to mark their progress as they went up. Sakura had managed on her first try. Due to her low reserves, the control she had was far better than him or Kiba, although Kiba was slowly getting up further than him. He rolled his eyes when Sakura segan yelling at Kiba for going past him.

"Will you put a cork in it, Sakura!? Kakashi-Sensei just said to reach the top. He didn't say squat about a race!"

"Admit it, Kiba! You're just trying to show up Sasuke-Kun!"

"Geeze, will you two cool it? They could've heard you halfway back to Konoha." Naruto muttered as he, Hinata, and Shino came out from around a shrub, a finger in his ear..

Sasuke scowled at the sight of him, "What are YOU doing here, Dobe!?"

"The Hokage sent us to provide assistance due to this Zabuza person." Shino spoke up, grabbing Naruto's arm to stop him from giving the rude gesture he knew the blonde was about to use.

"At least they sent somebody sociable." Kiba muttered, "I'm actually surprised we managed to pass the test thanks to Mr. I-Don't-Need-A-Team and his fangirl. Me and Akamaru are lucky if we hear anything besides Pinky yelling 'Sasuke-Kun!' a dozen times a day." That remark earned him a bit of killing intent from his teammates and a stifled snicker from Naruto.

"So, he has you doing tree-climbing?" Hinata looked up at the marks midway up two of the trees.

"Hn, like you three could even make it a few steps," Sasuke snapped haughtily, "If it's taking ME this long to do it, you losers'll never even stick!" His ego-stroking vanished when Team 8 began marching single-file up Kiba's tree in response. Like Naruto, Hinata and Shino weren't really fond of the Uchiha.

Kiba stared up at them before roaring with laughter at the twitch Sasuke had developed, "Thanks guys! I ain't laughed this hard in weeks!"

"Kurenai-Sensei had us do a lot of training in our spare time." Naruto said. In a way it was true, he just left out the part about his hand in it.

The Uchicha, much to Kiba's entertainment, began to seethe when they revealed they also knew water-walking and were currently working on kunai and senbon levitating.

"Ah man, that's funny! Sasuke looks like he's gonna hemorrhage something!" The Inuzuka gasped between peals of laughter. That is, until Sakura punched him in the head.

* * *

Naruto panted as he raised Silverfang over his head for the hundredth time and began to focus chakra into it. The blade soon began to take on a pale blue hue that slowly grew brighter and brighter. Before long, the blade was burning a bright azure. When that happened, Naruto brought it down as hard as he could.

"**Kenjutsu: Howling Edge**!" A flaming blue crescent rocketed from the tip; howling like a wolf before it slammed into a nearby boulder, coming close to splitting it in half. All around him, rocks, trees, even the ground had identical slashes ang gouge marks. It was a chakra technique Kyuubi had shown him similar to one he could use with his own claws. But since Naruto didn't have any big enough, the sword was an effective replacement. As the dust cleared, Naruto collapsed to his knees, a slight wheeze his breathing. That technique, even with his reserves, took a fair bit outta him after all the attempts.

**"Not bad, kit, not bad. It's starting to charge up quicker now."**

_"Yeah, but I'll have to work on that. I'm a setting duck if I have to wait on it."_

Since their arrival to wave, Team 8 had agreed to spend some time doing a bit of private training to fine-tune their own styles. Since Kyuubi had a preference for attacking with straight chakra, the two had decided to incorperate the moves he would teach Naruto into his swordwork. His Hiraishin practice was doing better as well; he could finally appear at the kunai, ready to strike. Next step: doing it in rapid succession like the Hokage said his father was capable of. Every now and then he could pick up the sounds of Hinata or Shino in the distance. That or Team 7 arguing with each other.

He took a breath and raised his sword up again.

* * *

That night, during dinner at Tazuna's, they were once again treated to statements that they were all going to die, courtesy of Inari, Tsunami's son. Tazuna had explained about Inari's surrogate father. Wave had considered him a hero until his was captured and publicly executed by Gato and his thugs. The man firmly believed if something was worth fighting for, then that's what should be done. Naruto felt for the kid loosing someone he cared about, but still...

"Why are you even bother!? None of you'll stand a chance against Gato's men!" Inari yelled, furious that the shinobi all had the nerve to look calm.

Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose, _"I don't think I can take much more of this. _Will you chill out, kid? Aside from this Momochi guy, Gato sounds like he's just got a bunch of 2-bit hoods working for him. I think we'll be fine."

"What do you know!? You're not from here! You idiots don't know ANYTHING about what it's like to suffer..."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, "Oh really? Let me ask you: did the majority of your village make sure pain was all you ever really knew the first 5 years of your life?"

"W-what?? No!"

"Did any of them refer to you as 'demon' or 'monster'? Did any of them say you had no right to live!?" The other stared as Naruto's face seemed to grow darker.

"N-no."

"Kid, pain is something I happing to be quite familar with, so don't EVER assume you know me!" They all thought he was finished, but the blonde had something else to get off his chest, "You know, your dad put his life on the line to try and protect this place, but all I've seen you do is mope around feeling sorry for yourself and acting like Gato's unstoppable. That's a damn sorry way to honor the memory of a guy everyone calls a hero!" With those words, the blonde got up and headed for the door, "I'm gonna get some more training in."

* * *

**Haku's PoV**

Haku hummed a quiet tune as she gathered up herbs for Zabuza. She knew how much he wanted a rematch with the one-eyed jounin, she just wished he'd be a little more patient. His Injuries from before were still healing; plus they had gotten word that more Konoha shinobi were coming as backup. As she gathered, she noticed something odd with the terrain. At first it looked like someone had simply struck the trees with kunai or swords. It gradually moved to larger cuts, some going in deep. Before long they looked as if they had been snapped, others were simply lopped in two. Several had deep indentions, as if they were struck with a particularly savage blow. Even nearby rocks were cracked or busted.

"What happened here??" She asked herself. Her answer came when she wandered into a small open area. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw was there.

A massive wolf-like humanoid creature, asleep on the ground. A large shining white sword was driven into the ground beside it. At first she considered leaving it be. Then she noticed a Leaf headband around it's neck. Her curiosity aroused, she edged closer. Its fur was jet-black but had a mass of golden yellow hair running down its back. The clothes it had on seemed to call out 'I'm a shinobi'.

"What are you?" She asked, taking in the sight of the being before her. The creature looked capible of being vicious, but at the same time, it almost looked...cute, in a way.

* * *

**Normal PoV**

Naruto's nose twitched, catching the scent of herbs and lilac. He knew there was nothing like that in the area when he started training to blow off steam from the boy's comments. That could only mean someone was nearby. He pried his eyes open to see a girl staring at him. A surprisingly cute one, he had to admit. Defiantly on par with

Hinata. She looked like she was a couple years older than him.

**"Oh-ho! Looks like we got a player!"** Kyuubi joked, seeing what his container was thinking about.

_"Put a shoe in it, fox! It ain't like THAT!"_

The moment she caught sight the two silver eyes looking straight at her, she froze up. Haku had no idea how strong it was, or if she could handle it if it did attack.

Naruto slowly sat up, _**"Uh..hi" **_ He said, hoping she wasn't about to run screaming into town, _**"Don't worry, I'm not a lecher.**_ _**I'm Naruto." **_ He mentally berated himself for not changing back before he nodded off.

"H-Haku." She replied, finally getting her voice back.

It didn't take Shikamaru to tell she was frightened. So even though it was a risk, he make a quick decision, _**"Um..there any chance you can keep what I'm about to do a secret?"**_

"Why? W-what are you going to do?"

_**"This." **_ As the girl watched, he began changing back. Within moments, Naruto was in human form again, "I..um...I'm a werewolf. You might say it's a Bloodline, sorta"

That didn't quite register with Haku. In her mind, she could only think one thing, "_Kami! He's gorgeous!" _That is, until she mentally punched herself, "_GET A GRIP! So what if he's attractive; you just met him! Plus, he's from Konoha!"_

"Hello? You ok?" He waved a hand in her face.

After a moment, she quickly shook her head, blushing brightly, "Oh, y-yeah, sorry."

He pointed to the basket she was carrying, "Running errands?"

"You might say that. I'm making some medicine for a friend."

"Need a hand?" He felt it was the lest he'd do for scaring her like that.

Haku hesitated; as much as she hated it, she and Zabuza had a job to do and the Konoha-nins were there to stop them. They'd be on opposite sides once he recovered. After a moment, she decided, "Couldn't hurt for now."

"Ok. It shouldn't take the both of us long to find what I need."

With those words, the two started, neither really knowing what would come in the next few days.

* * *

I know I said I was going to put wave in one chapter; but as I thought of the bridge fight, it just felt like it deserved it's own; ya know? Gonna put my ability to write a good fight scene to the test.

So, next time: Brawl on the bridge!


	12. Do The Wave One More Time

**Disclaimer goes here.**

Spee...ah you get the idea!

**Miss Finnish:** Actually, the damage Haku found was Naruto taking his frustration out on the surrounding environment. I just wanted to bring it up from her PoV.

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 11: Do The Wave One More Time**

For as long as he had known her, Zabuza could only describe Haku as quiet. She was never one to stand out much, except when she fought. Even though he first considered her only as a weapon and nothing more, over the years he had actualy grown somewhat fond of the ivory-skinned girl, seeing her more like a little sister. Now however, something about Haku had him scratching his head.

Ever since the day before yesterday, when she had gone out to restock her supply of herbs, he couldn't help but notice she seemed to be...blushing somewhat. He pointed it out and she claimed it was just from being outside. Both of them knew it wasn't the truth but he knew calling her out wouldn't help. And then there was the slight giggle she let out on occasion.

Laughing in any way, shape, or form was something he had never seen her done; so it came as a bit surprising when he first heard it. Something had brought about a change in Haku, however so slight.

And he wanted to learn what it was. For now, however, he had other things to deal with. Namely a man called Kakashi Hataki and his genin team. He had a job to do and they were his primary obstacle. Them plus this new Leaf Team Haku mentioned.

Tomorrow, he told himself as he crushed an apple in his hand.

Tomorrow.

* * *

"Kurenai-Sensei, have you seen Naruto?" Hinata asked, a tightly bound scroll rested in her hand. "A messenger bird from Konoha arrived shortly with a scroll addressed to him."

"He should be out back with Kakashi. He said something about wanting to check out his sword." She responded.

Of course at that particular moment, Kakashi was more concerned with picking the thing up. "KAMI! This thing's heavy!" He exclaimed, his hands shaking from just trying to keep it off the ground, "How the hell can you swing it, Naruto!?"

The blonde laughed, "It wasn't easy at first. You wouldn't believe how many times the momentum got the better of me. I'm just glad all the training Guy-Sensei gave me made it go a little faster."

The cylopiean jounin nearly dropped the sword when he heard the name, "Guy? You trained with Might Guy??"

"Yeah, Asuma introduced him to him so I'd at least be somewhat on par with the academy students that trained with their parents."

"Um, can I ask how long?"

Naruto scratched his head, "About 8 years, give or take a month."

Kakashi paled, _"If he went through the kind of training I think he did..hoo-boy..."_

He was quickly pulled from his thoughts by a loud commotion coming their way. The pair looked to see Hinata come up carrying the scroll with a scowling Sasuke in hot pursuit.

"I said give me that scroll, Hyuuga!" The raven-haired boy ordered.

"And I said no!" She snapped back, "Naruto, catch!" With a flick of the wrist, she hurled it to him like a kunai.

The moment he caught it, the name on it caught his eye, "From the Hokage?"

"Why the hell would he send that loser anything?!"

Naruto ignored him and opened it. inside was a letter with a smaller scroll rolled up inside.

_"Naruto,_

_My secretary found this while sorting through some old files. I was rather surprised it even existed. Neither Minato nor Kushina even told me about it. It probably would've been prudent to wait until you returned to give it to you, but I felt it was best it be in family hands as soon as possible. Anyway, hopefully you can put it to good use._

_Sarutobi."_

Hinata cocked her head at the scroll, "A blood seal? Those are normally used by clans to protect their family techniques."

"Well, lets see what it says." He gave it the once-over before chuckling sheepishly, "Uh...how do I open it?"

"You have to rub some of your own blood on the seal. Although it'll only open if a family member was the one to seal it."

Without a second thought, the werewolf bit his finger and swiped the bloody digit across the seal. It faintly glowed for a moment before breaking apart and he unfurled it. Everyone watched while he mumbled something to himself, his hair turning from side to side being the only indicator he was reading it. Sasuke fumed and looked ready to snatch it away when the blonde slowly lowered it, chuckling slightly and his face twisted into a 'smoldering' grin.

"W-What is it, N..Naruto?" Hinata, fidging a bit; that grin was starting to heat her up.

"My mom's fighting style: The Lunar Fist." He replied, the grin intensifying.

* * *

After several minutes of Team 8 reading the scroll over Naruto's shoulder after learning what the scroll had and Kakashi having to prevent Sasuke from trying to snatch it...again; Naruto managed to get to a quiet area so he could study the scroll better.

"Who would've thought there'd be a werewolf taijutsu." He chuckled as he read through the style's overview. Somewhat similar to Strong Fist, the Lunar Fist style involved powerhouse strikes. However, it called for the user to put their whole body into the hit to take advantage of the werewolf strength and speed. A little chakra could be thrown in as well to amplify the strike.

**"Are you going to incorperate it into what you know of the Strong Fist so far?" ** Kyuubi asked.

_"Nah..that's Lee's style. He's been working on it a lot harder and longer than I have. Doesn't seem fair if I try to mix and match." _ With that, he summoned up a clone and had it hold the scroll so he could reference it, "Okay, first stance.." He mumbled, crackling his knuckles.

* * *

"I can't believe that guy.." Kiba muttered to himself as he and Shino zipped up their coats, "Practicing halfway through the night..that's just damn crazy."

"True. Although this IS Naruto Uzumaki you're talking about." The Bug-user replied, remembering when the Jounins came in late last night, dragging a wore out blonde between them. It was decided to just let him sleep while the others went to guard Tazuna and his workers on the bridge. Tsunami promised she'd let him know once he woke up.

Hinata glanced back at the room he was sleeping in as they all headed out. She had volunteered to keep him company but all of them would be needed in case Zabuza had learned about them and brought help himself.

"Ok, let's get going." Kurenai said, flanking the bridge builder between her and Kakashi as they brought up the rear behind the genins.

A half hour later, Naruto shot up in bed, "Man..guess I overdid it.."

**"Ya think??" **Kyuubi responded dryly, **"You wore yourself out to the point that the others decided to just let you sleep."**

_"What!? For crying out out loud! Why the hell didn't some one wake me up?!" _ Cursing to himself, he scrambled to get dressed.

"NO! Run, Inari!!" Naruto's ears perked up at the cry coming from outside. Bolting to a window he saw a pair of grungy-looking swordsmen holding their blades at Tsunami's throat. One looked like he was ready to slaughter for the sheer fun of it. And he was staring at Inari like his nect victim.

"Leave my mother alone, you slimebags!" The boy said defiantly, doing his best to hold his ground against the two thugs. "I'm not going to run..Gato..Gato's nothing but a bully!"

"Just one slash, come on.." the man said, fingering his blade..

"You make one move towards my son and I'll bit my tongue off and choke on my blood, I swear it!"

"Gato said he needed a bargaining chip, you idiot! Just grab the brat and you can kill them both afterwards!"

Watching those two immediately brought back memories of the man that tried to kidnap Hinata, making Naruto snarl as he began to climb out the window.

**"Kit, you know if it comes down to it, you'll have to..."**

_"I know...I'd have to kill sooner or later. Just wish it was later." _ He said before taking a flying leap off the edge of the room.

"That's it! I can't take it anymore! I gotta kill one of them!" The first thug snapped, raising his sword at Tsunami, "Don't worry, This'll be.." He was cut off when he was driven into the ground from Naruto landing on him. There was a sickening crunch as his ribs snapped under the impact and the blonde's weight.

"Where'd the hell did you come from?!" The other yelled, watching his partner cough up blood before going limp.

"You should be more worried about what I'll be doing to you if you don't back off." Naruto growled, drawing his own blade and pointing it at him. Before he could react, Naruto bolted forward and brought the flat of his sword down hard on the man's head, crumpling him instantly.

"Mom!" The boy rushed over to be sure she was ok while Naruto tied up the man. He sighed when he checked the other's pulse; the man was dead from the rib shards piercing his lungs and heart. Try as he might, the young boy couldn't keep from breaking into tears.

"Hey, Inari." Naruto piped up, "I think your dad would've been proud of you."

Despite his tears, Inari was able to smile, "Thanks, Naruto.."

The blonde gave a quick nod before making his way to the bridge, "If those two were sent by that teme, Gato, then.."

A feral grin appeared on both the Kyuubi's face, **"Wanna bet we're gonna get our chance to meet this Zabuza character?"**

Naruto's face darkened as he sped up, _"Something tells me things are gonna get real ugly, real fast."_

* * *

I know I meant for this chapter to be the brdge fight, but given how long it took me to get this part how I wanted it, I have a feeling a few of you were getting a lil antsy.

So, next chapter, I PROMISE is the fight. Plus the Konoha nins see how 'beastly' Naruto can get.

Next time: The Demon of the Mist vs. The Werewolf of Konoha.


	13. Blades on The Bridge

**Disclaimer, ect..yada yada yada**

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 12: Blades on The Bridge**

"Kami..my men! What happened here!?" Tazuna cried out when they arrived on the bridge. All the workers lay on the ground, either incapacitated by senbon or awake but in pain from slash marks on their bodies, "Who did all this!?"

"I believe I can take the credit." A voice chuckled nearby.

Kakashi narrowed his eye as a man welding a massive sword stepped out from behind a stack of girders. Beside him was a smaller masked figure. "The 'hunter-nin' I presume."

"I see you've recovered from our last scrap as well, Kakashi." Zabuza said, looking towards Kurenai and the genins, "Kurenai Yuuhi, I've heard of you as well. Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress. So they sent you to help." A grin formed under his mask, "Guess I should consider myself honored. Now, shall we begin?" The missing-nin began going through seals, **"Suuton: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" **Within seconds the bridge was covered in a thick mist and the two quickly vanished into it.

"Everyone keep together! Hinata, stay close to Tazuna and keep your eyes open!" Kurenai shouted, grabbing a kunai.

Zabuza's voice chuckled again from inside the mist, "Don't think I know about the mighty Byakugan. It won't help you here. Haku, see to the gakis. I'll deal with the jounins."

"Hai, Zabuza.." Another voice replied; one that they guessed was Haku's. The shinobi tensed, not sure which way the two would attack.

Hinata put all her focus into tracking Haku and Zabuza's chakra, trying to spot them before they could get too close. As she scanned the area, something caught her attention. Another, very familiar, chakra signature was coming from the end of the bridge; and fast, "Kurenai-Sensei! Someone's coming this way!"

"Is it one of his?"

"No..I'd know that chakra anywhere..It's Naruto!"

The second she said it, the other looked in time to see the blonde come charging in, "Hey guys...am I in time for the fireworks?"

"Right on time, Naruto." Kurenai said, her eyes darting towards any sound coming from the fog.

"Who the hell are you?" Zabuza demanded.

"Me? Who the hell are YOU?" Naruto snapped, his ears twitching around to pinpoint the voice.

"Naruto, that's Zabuza Momochi. He and his partner, Haku, are the reason we called for reinforcements." Kakashi answered, earning a pair of raised eyes from the werewolf.

_"Haku..? Wait. could that be the same.."_ Naruto befan to sniff. Through all the water he managed to catch the same herb and lilac scent as the girl from the other day, "_Looks like it is. _Guess we're running into each other again sooner than we expected, Haku." He called out.

"Say what? What was he mean 'again?" Kiba said, getting a shrug from Shino.

She hesitated for a second before replying, "I regret the circumstances, but I must do this, Naruto-kun..I mean san!" she quickly added, grateful that no one could see her flush. Unfortunately, Zabuza caught the suffix.

"Kun..? Wait a sec..." The mist dissipated, giving the missing-nin a better look at the new guy. For a moment he didn't see anything odd about the guy, aside from the marks on his face..at least until he saw the ears, and tail draped behind him. His eyes widened briefly..

Then Zabuza Momochi, the Hidden Mist Demon, busted out laughing., "BAH-HA-HA!! You're the guy that had Haku blushing?? All you're missing is a collar with the name 'Fido' on it!" The man grabbed his sides.

"Hold on..." Kurenai said, "Naruto, there something we're not aware of?"

Naruto's eye began to twitch in annoyance at the laughing, "Well, I met Haku the morning after I got pissed at Tazuna's grandson. I didn't know she was working with the guy after the old man." He directed the next line straight to the masked man, "And for YOUR information, Mr. No-Brow; their not dog ears, their wolf! And so's the tail!"

Unfortunately, that only made the sight even more hysterical to him.

Behind her mask, Haku was a mix of embarrassment at how he was acting and trying to subdue the part of her mind that wanted to perform the 'kawaii squeal' at the sight of the fluffy tail.

"Oh man.." Zabuza wiped his eyes, "I haven't had a laugh like that in years." It was then he finally saw the sword on Naruto's back, "So, a fellow swordsman, huh?"

"I guess you could say that." Nartuo drew Silverfang, glad the man was finally taking him seriously.

Zabuza's eyes widened again, earning a glare from the blonde, thinking he was going to laugh at him again, "That...that's a Whirlpool sword!"

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow, "What the hell's a whirlpool sword?"

"Aren't you taught anything these days, gaki!?" Zabuza said, not believing what he heard, "Whirlpool Country was known for the quality of its blades. They had a knack for being rather nasty in trained hands. Whirpool blades were designed to never pierce, only slice. Hence no corners." He slowly drew his blade and focused intently on Naruto, "I've always wanted to test my cleaver against one. Waddaya say?? No jutsu, just sword vs sword."

"Naruto, you idiot! Are you trying to get yourself killed!?" Sakura yelled, "Kakashi-Sensei! You gotta stop him! He won't last a second against..."

"You want me to go all out?" Naruto interrupted, a feral grin on his face.

"N-Naruto!" Kakashi said, "He's an A-Class criminal!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way." They could see him grinning ferally as well through his wrappings.

Haku started feeling uneasy, She had no doubt in Zabuza's ability. But judging from the destruction she had seen at Naruto's hands, he wasn't a pushover.

"Naruto! I know you're good with that sword, but you've never faced an opponent like him." Kurenai yelled, ready to pull him back herself. Before she could, both of them blurred out of sight

Suddenly the air rang with the sound of swords clashing behind the Konoha shinobi. They wheeled around to see the two trading blows several feet behind them. Every now and then they would vanish again, reappearing with their blades throwing off sparks as they collided.

"I gotta admit...Naruto, was it? I'm impressed. You're not half bad." Zabuza said, ducking under one of the blonde's swings. He had more skill, but the Leaf-Nin had reflexes that rivled his own. "Although, I can't really say I approve of the idea of you and Haku."

This caught him off guard and he narrowly avoided a strike that would've took his arm off, "Nani??"

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed. I think she likes you." He snickered when an embarrassed cry of 'Zabuza!' came from nearby, as well as a shriek of "NANI?" From Hinata. "But still, you're what..23? 24? She's still 16. That's a fair sized age difference."

Naruto raised an eye in confusion before sputtering a laugh, "Actually, if she's 16, she's older than I am." He said over the screech of metal. "You're fighting a 13 year old genin. I'm just tall for my age."

This time it was the Hidden Mist Demon's turn to be startled as, even though he blocked it, he still staggered from one of Naruto's overhead chops. "I'm fighting a KID!?"

Haku was surprised as well, "13??"

"Hey, it's not my fault you assumed I was full-grown." He replied, deflecting another attack.

Meanwhile, the jounins noticed Sasuke leaking killing intent at an uncontrolled rate, "Sasuke! Calm down! There's no point in getting angry right now." Kakashi ordered, "If things get out of hand for Naruto, then we'll step in. But right now we need to just keep on our guard..." With that, he resumed watching the fight, not seeing an evil smile form on the Uchiha's face as two tomoe appeared in his left eye and one in his right; an incomplete Sharingan.

Zabuza wiped the sweat from his face; this kid was giving him a fight and he was enjoying it. As he parried one of the blonde's strikes, an idea hit him. It was obvious Haku liked the boy, so killing him was out, but that didn't mean he could have some fun. In honesty, he didn't like Gato at all, especially from the way he would keep leering at Haku, "Hey, gaki, how about we up the stakes in this little match?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"If you can beat me, I won't kill the bridge builder. But if I win, I get that sword. Loser's the one that gets knocked off their feet."

Before Naruto, or anyone for that matter, could respond, a high cruel laugh mixed with applause came rolling from the other side of the bridge, "That was an entertaining performance, Zabuza. I guess you aren't as useless as I thought."

The group looked to see a short, ugly little man standing in front of what Kurenai guessed was a couple hundred of his men.

"You must be Gato." She said, drawing a pair of kunai.

Haku scowled behind her mask, "You had no intention of paying us, did you, you slimebag?"

Gato's smile widened, "Why pay when I could've killed him after he did his job? But since it looks like he'd rather be playing, it gives me an excuse."

"You! You're the son of a bitch that those two after Tsunami and Inari?!" Naruto growled.

"Looks like they screwed the job up. No matter, kill them! but leave the women." He licked his lips, "It'll be fun to break 'em." At those words, his men let out a cheer and began to charge them/

"Well, old man." Zabuza stepped up beside Kakashi, "Looks like I'm fired, so I'm through going after you. And my beef with you is over as well, Kakashi. Although, " He chuckles as he turned to Naruto, "We still have our match..to...finish..." His eyes widened at what he saw.

Naruto. Was. PISSED! He was baring his teeth and snarling like an angry wolf. This little shit had the nerve to state that he and his men were going to rape every girl there...that was something he would NOT stand for.

The blonde let out a howl as he started to change. The howl was enough to make Gato's man stop dead in their tracks

"**These bastards.."**

_"..Are gonna DIE!"_

Haku was forced to remove her mask in order to get a better look at what was transpiring. She had already seen his transformed state before, but not in this fashion. It was actually kind of scary to see him like that.

The other Konoha nins looked on in shock and a bit of fear as well at their teammate's fully altered state. The massive wolf snarled at the thugs and drove his sword into the ground.

He gave the others a glance, _**"This if my real wolf form. I didn't find out till a few months ago."**_

"N-Naruto..??" HInata said, barely able to keep her voice above a whisper.

The wolf gave her a grin, _**"It's ok, Hina. It's still me, just..hairier."**_

The kunoichis (minus Sakura) weren't going to admit it, but Wolf-Naruto's voice sent a chill through them. One they liked.

_**"If you want them, you bastards, you're gonna have to come through me!" **_ Naruto growled, taking a few steps foward.

"What you cowards waiting for!? It's 200 against 8! I want them d...!" Gato's voice caught in his throat when Naruto howled again and began running straight towards him, teeh and claws bared.

As soon as he did that, Zabuza took off in hot persuit, "Don't think you're going to have all the fun, kid!"

Needless to say, the end result was a bloody end..

For Gato and his men.

* * *

I know the fight between Naruto and Zabuza seems rushed, but that was honestly the first real fight scene I ever wrote. So bear with me.

Next time, Naruto's inheritance and the chunin exams arrive.


	14. Surprises 12

**Disclaimer: dont own naruto..never have, never will.**

For the last time. to all who keep saying my chapters are too short: I just work better with chapters as long as I've been using. Some people can do big chapters, i'm not one of them. I'll try to make the chunin exam chapters a bit longer, but I can't promise anything.

**dragoon-zerox: **the idea kinda struck me on the premise that a bloodline could kick in during intense emotion. IE: Sasuke's rage at seeing Naruto go toe-to-toe with a class-A missing nin. As for Kakashi, he only picked up on the killing intent Sasuke was emitting, so he never looked directly at his eyes.

On with the show-er, fic.

* * *

**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 13a: Surprises 1/2**

Sakura paced anxiously around the back yard of Tazuna's house. It had been a few days since the bridge encounter, but it was still fresh in her mind. It shook her to the core at seeing what Naruto did to Gato and his men...

* * *

**FLASHBACK:**

_"You're not having all the fun with out me, kid!" Zabuza hollered as he followed the angry werewolf on a collision course with Gato's small army._

_As he ran, Sakura noticed his arms moving around. Judging from the speed, it looked like he was going through seals to perform a jutsu._

_**"Raiton: Arcwave Jutsu!" **__Naruto called out, slamming his hands into the chest of the first thug he reached. The man let out a scream as a bolt of electricity_

_shot out from his back, striking 5 others. All 6 crumpled to the ground, the first with a charred hole going right through his chest._

_She stared in shock at what he had just done. He took out 6 men with a jutsu she had never heard before and didn't even slow down. She glanced at Sasuke to ask if he knew but froze when she saw the rage visible on his face as well as hear him whisper curses at the Blonde _

_Zabuza laughed, "You got style, kid, I'll give you that." He proceeded to use his cleaver to cut a swath through them. Half a dozen of Gato's men fell from one swing._

_The air became filled with screams as the pair plowed their way through Gato's army. Naruto's claws tore into several and any lucky enough not to have them used on them were subjected to what he knew of the Strong Fist style. That combined with his increased strength managed to bust more than a few skulls. It didn't take him long to hack his way to Gato, who had ran behind his men when the two began their assault._

_The criminal started to run but was stopped dead when Naruto grabbed the back of his head and literally hoisted him off the ground_

_**"Congratulations, bastard. You're gonna be the first and last guy I'm gonna use this next move on." He growled before launching Gate into the air with a vicious kick.**_

_"N-No way..." Kakashi said to no one in particular, "He..he's not going to use THAT attack, is he??" The Jounin went slack-jawed behind his mask._

_Gato hacked up blood as he reached the peak of his flight, only to get put in a bear hug by the werewolf, "W..what are you going to do!?" He coughed. His answer game in the form a straight plummet back down. _

_"That's..That's the.." Kakashi 's eyes widened.._

_**"PRIMARY LOTUS!" **__Naruto howled as he went into a wild spin, still holding onto the little man. The two of them smashed into the bridge with a devastating slam, throwing up a mushroom cloud of dust and debris as well as a few of the thugs who couldn't get away in time. Zabuza was forced to use his blade as a shield to block pieces of flying rock._

_When it finally cleared, they all saw Naruto standing before a huge crater on the bridge; in the middle lay the crushed body of Gato, driven headfirst into the concrete_

_"He just killed our bread and butter!" One of the thugs yelled, only to get lopped in two by Zabuza._

_Naruto took a moment to recover from the exertion of the move before returning his attention back to the remaining thugs. By the time the townspeople arrived, spurred on by Inari, the handful of survivors were diving off the bridge to escape._

**END FLASHBACK**

* * *

As gruesome as it was, she found it hard to be upset at him for it. The man had blatently stated that they were going to rape every female there. It wasn't until then that Naruto decided they had to die. As she thought about to, she recalled that Sasuke seemed more concerned with the power the blonde was exhibiting than what the men would've done if they had gotten to them. As much as she refused to want to believe it, part of her was sickened by the Uchiha's attitude. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that if they hadn't intended to rape, Naruto more than likely would have, at most, put them in the hospital.

Then it hit her: maybe the blonde wasn't as bad as she led herself to think after he decked Sasuke that day. As Ino told her, he only did it after the personal insult.

"Maybe..maybe I better apologize.."

* * *

"Hey, Kurenai." Zabuza called out, walking over to the genjutsu mistress, Haku beside him, but minus her mask.

The red-eyed woman looked their way, "hm, I figured you two would've been long gone by now."

"Yeah..we would've but.." He looked at the girl before continuing, "Haku suggested we see if maybe...we can join Konoha. Haku's had her fill of wandering from place to place; and to be honest..I'm getting a little tired of it myself. Besides.." He gave an evil grin at the girl's sudden blush when she realized what he was about to say, "Haku's got a crush on the blonde gaki."

"Zabuza!" Haku squeaked in embarassment, making Kurenai giggle.

"Well...you'd have to get the ok from the Hokage. As for the other reason..you better be ready for competition. Hinata likes him as well as a couple other girls back in the village. I don't think the poor boy even know how deep his predicament is."

"Others..?" Haku said, her eyes showing a hint of disappointment for a second before changing to a steely resolve, "I have no intention of losing to them.."

Zabuza was forced to do a double-take at her. This was a side of Haku he never saw before..and it was a little scary, too.

"Anyway, " Kurenai spoke back up, "I'll let Kakashi know and then we'll see what happens. We'll be here a bit longer though, at least until the bridge is completed. I think It's Kiba and Shino's turn for guard duty but Naruto's helping with the construction, seeing as how he nearly broke the bridge the other day."

Zabuza nodded, "Ok, we can..." He looked over at Haku, only to find her gone. The only thing to show she had been there was a fading dust train in the direction on the bridge, "H-Haku??"

* * *

At the bridge, Kiba and Shino were leaning against the side of the bridge keeping watch. Kiba took a deep breath, "This place ain't so bad now that we don't have to worry about someone wanting the old man dead."

Shino remained silent. After a minute, he noticed Kiba was holding something and every so often would point it at one of the surrounding Narutos. Since a lot of the workers were still injured, the blonde used his Shadow Clones to fill in for them.

"Kiba what are you doing?" The Aburame asked, giving his friend a curious look.

"Taking photos of Naruto that I plan to sell in Konoha."

"Ok..one more thing: why?"

Kiba chuckled, "You know how many girls back home would pay through the nose for pictures of a certain blonde without his shirt?"

Shino didn't show it, but there was a hit of disapproval in his voice, "I hope you're aware of Naruto might do to you if he finds out."

"Relax. what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"True, but when I find out. it'll be you that's hurting." Naruto said, glaring at Kiba before taking the camera away. The Inuzuka began to protest until Shino bopped him on the head

He started to tear the film out when he heard a squeak from nearby. Looking over her spied Haku staring at him, her normal ivory face now a bright pink.

"Oh, hey, Haku. What brings you out here?"

"N-Naruto-k-kin..you..you're...no shirt.." Was all she could get out before passing out with a vigorous nosebleed.

**"Nicely done, kit.." **Kyuubi laughed from his cage.

The bridge was completed within the next few days; it didn't take long for news to leak out and things began to look up for Wave. The Konoha shinobi received their mission pay and after saying their good-byes to everyone, began the trek home. The trip back was uneventful, unless you count Sasuke attempting to bully Naruto into telling him how he perform that raiton jutsu as well as that move he killed Gato with. After being told no, he tried to threatened him with the council before a senbon from Haku knocked him out.

That and Haku being unable to look at Naruto without blushing brightly.

* * *

The Hokage listened to the report, raising at eye at Zabuza's request for him and Haku to become Leaf-nin, "I'm not too sure about this. Zabuza, you ARE an A-class Missing-Nin after all, though there's nothing in the Bingo Book concerning Haku." He took a drag on his pipe, "Though, considering what you told Kurenai, there might be a chance for you. I'll discuss it with the Council and see what I can do."

The Joinins and others were dismissed but Sarutobi had Naruto, Zabuza and Haku stick around, "Until then, it's apparent you two will need a place to say. I think the best choice for now would be with Naruto."

"You're kidding, right? Gramps, my place is barely a room and a half."

The Hokage chuckled, "I'm not talking about your apartment, Naruto. While you were gone, Several council members and myself decided it was time to give you your parents' house."

Naruto's ears perked up at that, making Haku fight back a squeal at their twitch, "Say what?"

"It's time you got your inheritance." Sarutobi said, tossing the blonde a set of keys, "Besides, you'll need the extra room now, since the council decided your..ability..counts could be a bloodline."

"Why do I not like the sound of this?"

"As of today, The Clan Restoration Act is now active for you, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze."

"Ok..what is that, exactly?" The color faded from Naruto's face as the Hokage told him what it entailed.

* * *

Suna:

"ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!"

The Kazekage nearly fell out of his chair when the scream echoed through his office, "What the hell was that!?"

* * *

As the title said, this is gonna be a two-part chapter; plus it was sort of a filler too. So just go with me on this.


	15. Surprises 22

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **

This story's going to have a FemGarra in it. Only seen one other story with that and decided I'm gonna try it. This is just a notice so I don't get people wanting to yell at me.

Speech

_Thought_

**Kyuubi/Nibi**

xxxxxxxx

**Wolf in Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 13b: Surprises 2/2**

"Lousy, stinkin', no-good.." Naruto grumbled as he drove his fist into rock a in an attempt to blow off some steam from his meeting with the Hokage the other day. Normally it would have blown over by now, but this was a harem, for crying out loud! He felt like a damn pervert, and the possibility of arranged marriages. Needless to say he wasn't a happy little wolf.

**"Kit, calm down. Getting all worked up about it isn't going to help. Besides," **The fox grinned lecherously,** "Hooking up with a bunch of hotties? Slice of heaven if you ask me."**

_"No one did ask you, ero-kitsune! And no one asked me either if I even WANTED the friggin' thing put on me in the first place! Well, they can wait till Shikamaru and Lee trade lives for all I care, I'm not doing it!" _He struck the stone even harder, putting a small crater on the surface.

**"You know you have until you're 17 to do it right? That's a lotta time for you to change your mind."**

_"And you forget who their dealing with. You of all people know how stubborn I can be when I want."_

Naruto was so preoccupied with his pummeling of the rock and the conversation, he almost failed to noticed someone coming up behind him.

"Ah, there you are Naruto." The voice of Asuma Sarutobi piped up, "I've been hunting you down all day." He took a moment to light up before continuing, "The Hokage wants to see you concerning another mission."

"Another? But I just got back from Wave!"

Asuma shrugged, "He said the circumstances were more suited for you."

The blond growled, "Fine..Man first that CRA, now this."

"The CRA? You mean the council offered it to you?? Lucky skunk." Asuma nearly dropped his cigarette.

"Offered? They shoved it on me! The old man said once the act's been passed on to someone they have until the age of 17 to find an acceptable number of potential brides or face fines and possible jail time! Well, I told him to let them try!" He started to continue his rant but was stopped cold when he saw the younger Sarutobi bent over in laughter.

"N-Naruto. The CRA is purely voluntary."

"Say whaa??"

"I think my dad pulled a fast one on you. The REAL Clan Restoration Act is offered to the last male member of a clan. If he accepts, all it does is give him the ok to have more than one wife. The offer's normally extended when they reach puberty, dunno why myself. Anyway, the 17 limit is just so they have time, otherwise the council just gives reccomendations."

Through all this, Naruto's expression changed from confusion to annoyance, and finally..

"SAAAARUUUUTOOOOBIII!!" He roared, a severe eye twitch forming as he made his way to the tower, "NOT FUNNY, OLD MAN!"

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One busted door, 15 minutes of ranting about the Hokage's 'warped' sense of humor, and a threat of payback later, Naruto was standing beside a giggling Yugito who had come in during his semi-scolding of the strongest ninja in the village.

"You sent for me, Hokage-san?" She asked, standing beside her fellow Jinchuuriki.

"Yes. The two of you are to head to Suna. I've received word that one of the Kazakage's children is the carrier of the Ichibi no Tanuki, better known as the Shikaku."

Both Yugito and Naruto took on a blank expression for a moment.

"The Nibi and Kyuubi?" Sarutobi asked, a hit of concern in his voice.

"Yeah. Kyuubi considers Ichibi almost like a sister. He didn't know she had been contained till now"

Yugito nodded, "Nibi's pretty worried about her as well."

Sarutobi looked surprised at learning the One-Tail was female but decided to get back to business, "Unfortunately, the sealing was done for the sole purpose of making the child into a weapon. It worked..too well. Several innocent people have died recently because of this. Now, some of Suna's council members have decided to ask for help with the situation. I need you both to get there as soon as possible. They'll provide more information when you arrive"

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**"I swear, if they've done ANYTHING to hurt her, I'll raze that place to the ground MYSELF!" **Kyuubi snarled.

_"Dammit, fox! Raving like that isn't going to help! They'll tell us once we get there, then we'll see what we can do to help." _Naruto muttered as he finished sealing up his supplies for the trip, _"Now that I think about, you're sounding pretty damn protective of this Ichibi."_

The fox sighed, trying to calm himself** "To be blunt, She was the first being to ever be genuinely nice to me. She's also the youngest of all the nine tailed beasts. I don't think anyone would expect one of us to be as innocent as she is."**

_"Wow. Well, hopefully we'll be able to fix things " _ With that, Naruto stuffed the scrolls in his vest and began making his way to the city gates. On his way, he spotted Yugito heading there was well. It didn't take long for the two to meet up and they immediately started on their way to Suna.

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I know the chapter's somewhat short. But It's been a while since I updated this story and felt I had to add something.

Next time: The Jinchuuriki of Suna.


	16. Intermission Chapter 1

Speech

_Thought_

**Tailed Beast.**

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**Wolf in Fox's Clothing **

**Intermission Chapter 1.**

"Naruto.." Yugito panted, coming to a stop in the woods, "We've been going nonstop for the last seven hours! I gotta take a break."

The blond sat down, "Yeah, I could use a breather too. Besides, if I remember the map at the academy, we still have a couple of days before we reach Suna."

Since it was already night time, they decided to set up camp for the night. Naruto went off to hunt and Yugito was keeping the fire stoked.

**"You know, kitten, now that you two are alone.." ** Nibi let out a seductive purr.

That caused the the kunoichi to flush bright red, _"_Nibi!"She squeaked indignantly, _"_This isn't the time for that! He's a sweet guy, that's true. But now isn't.."

**"Oh, don't act so innocent. You forget, I've seen a couple of your fantasies. Like the one involving you two and the back of Ichiraku's?" **The feline laughed when her container blushed even brighter, **"We both know you've have the hots for the guy ever since that day you watched him train, remember?"**

Yugito tried to fight the dreamy grin that was creeping onto her face but failed spectacularly as she recalled what happened, all because of the Dyamio's wife's cat. What was supposed to be a routine 10 minute checkup turned into an hour-long fight when the cat decided to go apeshit after smelling dog on Hana's clothes. After that, she immediately went to the first quiet place she could find for lunch to forget about the little monster.

That place turned out to be Training Ground 11. And as her luck would have it, that was also where Naruto had picked to practice his katas.

**"Fun wasn't it, kitten?" **Nibi decided to tease her, **"Especially when he took off his vest. All those yummy muscles in the sunlight and the way they flexed.."**

"Yeeaahh.." Yugito stared to purr until she felt herself heating up and snapped out of it, "DAMMIT, NIBI!" She yelped, tying to calm down and ignore the cat's fit of giggling.

Meanwhile, Naruto had managed to catch a small deer and was busy field dressing it when he felt the need to ask the fox something, "Hey, Kyuubi. You said Ichibi was the first one to ever be nice to you, what'd you mean?"

**"Exactly what I said." **Kyuubi responded, ** "A long time go, way before Konoha, mind you, I got into a fight with Hachibi and Rokubi; the 8 and 6-Tails. I managed to send them running, but** **I took a fair bit of punishment myself. To be honest, I wasn't exactly in any shape to defend myself if they had decided for another round."**

**"Anyway, I started looking for a place to recuperate when I ran into Ichi-Chan.** **At first I... thought she had gotten wind of the fight and came to finish the job, so I was pretty hostile to her. But she hung around, regardless. I guess it wasn't in her to just leave somebody who was injured. It didn't take me long to realize she was looking at my wounds whenever I was asleep. When I learned that, I was too surprised to feel threatened."**

Kyuubi rested his head on his front paws as he reminisced, **"After that we started talking. Never thought I'd say this, but Ichi-Chan's one of the sweetest girl's you'd probably ever meet, human or tailed-beast. Thanks to her, I was back to my old self in no time. Well, Hachibi got word and wasn't too happy that she had helped me." ** His tone darkened signifigantly, **"The hebi-teme knew she wasn't as strong as he was, but he decided she needed punishment. I can't explain what happened when I learned they were fighting; all I remember is feeling undiluted rage at the worm wannabe."**

"Did you let him live?" Naruto asked, not really needing to know what happened next.

**"Ah, he managed to slip away before I could finish the job. But, knowing him, he's probably still off somewhere trying to regrow the tails I ripped off him." **He replied, with a hit of self-satisfaction.

_"Heh, sounds like you like her like you do Nibi." _

Kyuubi jolted to his feet in shock, nearly banging his head on the ceiling, **"Wha!? N-No! Don't-Don't be rediculous! I just care about her, that's all."**

Naruto chuckled, "Oh really? Your tone says otherwise."

**"That's not true! I..I mean..I'll admit she's pretty cute..that big bushy tail of hers that twitched like mad when she laughed..how fluffy she could be when she cuddled up against me after she had a nightmare..the fact she'd scrunch up that cute little pink nose of hers when she tried to pout..."**

_"Yep. You defiantly care about her." _He busted out laughing when Kyuubi realized what he had just said.

**"Wait! I..uh..That is...gah..!**If it wasn't for his red fur, Kyuubi could be seen rivaling Hinata in the blush department, **"Tojikomeru, baka-okami!"**

The rest of the night was fairly normal, with the exception of Naruto getting a whiff of something odd when he returned to camp with the meat from his kill.

"Yugi, did you bring any candy with you?"

She shook her head, "No, why?"

"Something smells like honey around here." He took another sniff, "Bit of vanilla too." Looking around, he failed to notice the thermonuclear blush on his traveling companion.

_**"Oh, Kami...I KNEW there was something I forget to teach the kit about!" **_Kyuubi sweatdropped. Naruto could tell when a guy/girl liked someone, he knew that much. However, it was the OTHER half of the subject that he was clueless about.

Naruto shrugged as he put the meat on the fire, "Must be a beehive nearby."

Meanwhile, Yugito was mentally calling her tenant every name in the book.

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Ok, first of all, I KNOW this chapter is short. I intended it. It's mostly a little bit of side humor in the story, like in the Young Ones. (if you don't know what I'm talking about; check it out on youtube) I might put in a couple more like that. That and it's been a while since I updated this one and felt you guys could use a lil something to tide you over while I work on the next actual chapter.

tojikomeru is supposed to be 'shut up'. I got it from an online Japanese dictionary, so it might not be exactly what I was trying for.


	17. Tale of the Sand's Bloody Rose

**Disclaimer: Own Naruto I do not.**

Speech

_Thought_

**Tailed Beast**

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**Wolf In Fox's Clothing**

**Chapter 14: Tale of the Sand's Bloody Rose**

"FINALLY!" Naruto gasped as he and Yugito trudged their way up the gates of Suna after a day and a half in the scorching desert. Though since Nibi had a knack for flames, the heat didn't quite bother her as much as it did him.

"So this is Suna? Doesn't exactly seem all that lively from here." Yugito said, shaking some sand from her hair.

"Halt! State your name and purpose!" A Suna-nin barked, suddenly appearing in front of them, "What are Konoha-nin doing out here?"

"Some of your village's council sent for us." Yugito responded, watching another shinobi show up.. The new one seemed to be a captain some kind of higher rank since the first quickly snapped to attention at his presence

"So you're the ones they sent, huh? Well, let's hope you two are up to the job." He said, sending the other on his way and motioning for them to follow.

Naruto noticed that everyone around them, civilian and shinobi seemed to look a tad uneasy. Some where even glancing around as if they were worried someone was going to pop up on them, "Yugi, you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yeah, it's like a fear of attack." She said, watching a chunin nervously finger a couple of kunai as they walked past.

The Jounin spoke up, "Three more people died early this morning. The idiots thought they could launch a surprise attack and catch her off guard. All we found of them was a puddle of blood"

"..." Was the only thing Naruto and Yugito could respond with.

"The council'll tell you more." He continued, not saying another word.

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Both of them had been expecting a full room when they reached the council chamber; instead all that greeted them was less than half a dozen people. Even their kage was absent.

"What the heck's going on?" Yugito said, both blonds tensing up.

"Welcome. You must be the shinobi Konoha sent." One of the men said, gesturing to a couple of chairs, "Have a seat and we will explain why we called for you."

The duo looked at each other for a moment before slowly getting into the chairs, Naruto setting his sword on the table just in case.

"First of all, Kazekage-Sama is currently visiting Mist so he has no knowledge that you are here, nor do the majority of the council." The man told them.

"Hold up, just you 5 asked Konoha for help?" Yugito asked, not really believing it herself.

One of the other members, a slightly elderly woman, nodded, "We did not know what else to do. Too many have died already, mainly from their own foolishness, but still." She shook her head, "I take it the Hokage has informed you about who we are talking about?"

"Yeah, the Kazekage sealed the Ichibi no Tanuki into one of his own kids." Naruto said with a bite of disgust in his voice.

"Sadly yes. The being was sealed into his youngest child, his newborn second daughter, Kijo. However the process of sealing a tailed beast requires a human sacrifice to work..Rose's mother was that sacrifice..."

**"What the hell's wrong with that guy!?" **Nibi hissed, wishing she was out so she could give the Kazekage a one-way ticket to hell herself.

_"Damn lunitic as far as I'm concerned." _Yugito replied.

Kyuubi and Naruto were thinking the same thing, "What the hell possessed him to do that??" Naruto demanded_._

"He felt that Suna needed a strong weapon. He also felt performing the sealing on his own child would make it more controllable. Unfortunately, the way he performed it was flawed." The councilwoman took a drink before continuing, "None of us are sure exactly what happened, but shortly after the sealing was performed, half the people present were slaughtered by a wave of sand surrounding the child."

"It was then he considered the attempt a failure and decided to have her put down.." Another chimed in, causing an inhuman snarl to escape Naruto's lips.

"That _**BASTARD!**_" He growled, his lycan voice taking over for a moment, briefly startling them, "She's a human being, not some rabid animal or something!"

**"Kit, if we ever meet that son of a bitch, I say we kill him! Slowly and painfully as EFFING POSSIBLE!" **Kyuubi roared, already picturing ways to make the man suffer.

"That order never came to fruition. Having the one-tail sealed in Kijo gave her an almost living defense. There have been countless attempts, by both civilian and ninja, to end her life. All have been intercepted by the sand." The third council member sighed, "What makes it worse is at first, she was a surprisingly pleasant child. All she seemed to really want was a few friends. However, those that didn't fear what she carried, hated her for it..even her uncle: the one person she thought truly cared about her. She changed the day he tried to kill her himself. Now she is colder than ice, killing any just about everyone who crosses her. Even her brother and sister are lucky to have lived this long."

"This is why we called Konoha for help." The councilwoman cut in, "Kijo is well aware of what Suna shinobi are capable of, but she knows nothing of the Leaf. It's our hope that you can possibly catch her off guard, and if anything at least try to stop her blood lust. We're praying you can do whatever is possible before the week is ou, that is when Kazekage-same will return. Should he learn of this, he will have all of us executed for treason, and possibly you two as well since you came without his permission."

The two Jinchuuriki looked at each other for a moment before facing the councilmen, "We'll do what we can." Naruto said.

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Short chapter, I KNOW. leave it at that. This was mostly a little thing for some backstory on Kijo.

I understand Kijo means demoness, but that had no bearing on why I picked the name. I tried rose at first, but none of the Japanese words sounded right for naming a girl.

Next time: Meeting the Sand Siblings.


	18. Attention

I'm sorry guys, but after all this time, I STILL can't get the next chapter to go like I want. Just can get the idea to flow into text properly.

In that light, I'm gonna have to rewrite the last couple of chapters of Wolf in Fox's Clothing. Fortunately, it'll only be a minor setback. The remade chapters should be up in the next couple of weeks.


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